Thursday was the five-month anniversary of Jürgen Klinsmann’s appointment as head coach of the United States men’s national team. In that short time, he has presided over seven games and has a paltry 2-1-4 record.

He has also instituted some controversial player-selection policies, in some instances preferring European-born players to Americans. This has led to some backlash, most recently this morning from U.S.-born professional player Preston Zimmerman that started some discussion on Twitter about Klinsmann’s policies:

Preston Zimmerman (from Pasco, Wash., currently playing for SV Darmstadt 98 in Germany's 3rd Liga) lashes out at Jürgen Klinsmann on Wednesday morning on Twitter.

On Nov. 10, Brian Straus of Sporting News published an interview with Klinsmann ahead of the 1-0 U.S. loss in France. In it, Klinsmann made some assertions that implied the U.S. is better off with Europeans on its national team than Americans.

For example:

“It’s a different part of American culture. It’s the global picture that America represents. Those are kids who came through military families or for whatever reasons, working reasons of their parents, then they grow up with a different educational system, which gives them in soccer terms an edge ahead of American kids growing up in the U.S. They go through thousands more hours of playing the game than the American kid because the American kid only plays organized [soccer]. They come through different systems that gave them, especially, a technical advantage, an advantage in terms of how they read the game, anticipate the game, because the more you play the more you read things ahead.”

But the fact that he’s selecting foreign players is not his fault; it’s society’s:

“Now you live in this dual-citizenship world that is normal. It’s globalization. It’s just the way it is.”

Klinsmann obviously has a disdain for the grassroots of the American soccer system. He doesn’t seem to understand that it is different here; the same things that work in Europe or South Americ will not work in the U.S. The landscape is changing toward a more hybrid system with European allusions, but it will never be exactly the same.

The U.S. Soccer Development Academy is expanding, with Major League Soccer clubs taking a greater interest in youth soccer than ever before. However, most of these players will continue to go to college than straight to the pro ranks when they turn 18. The very top players who are ready for it will make the jump to the first team; others will get four more years (some less, if they leave early) to develop as players before taking that leap.

Looking at the last three U.S. World Cup rosters, the American system has fared just fine. Just six players out of 49 grew up in what could be considered a non-American system (youth play outside of the country):

Click on the image for a full-size version of the 2002, 2006 and 2010 U.S. World Cup rosters.

These American-born players made their mark on the college system before becoming professionals, and they made it to the quarterfinals in 2002 and won their group — which included England, a nation that exemplifies the club youth academy system — in 2010.

Evidently, being a non-American does not necessarily make a player better.

Those 2002, 2006 and 2010 players who did not play in college played for the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., which is the precursor to and a model for the current U.S. Development Academy system. IMG still has two teams participating in the new system, but graduates of the old academy include Landon Donovan, Damarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore.

The academy system developed from that early start, and now all clubs under the Development Academy umbrella receive support from the U.S. Soccer Federation, not just IMG. To continue finding quality youth players, this system has to keep developing.

It’s off to a fine start — most NCAA Division I recruits played at an academy, and 16 of the 20 members of the U-17 national team that just won the 2011 Nike International Friendlies play for an academy side.

Additionally, Klinsmann has to realize the right balance between the European system and the existing American system. Imposing too much change will destroy all the work that has been done up to this point to find a system that is uniquely American but still effective on the global soccer stage.

Finally, a few more MLS selections to U.S. friendly squads would be nice, instead of European-born and -based players of whom nobody has heard or seen play.

Hopefully, the U.S. will be holding the World Cup in 2014, and Klinsmann will look like a genius despite his rocky first few months in charge. But that’s a far cry from the current look of things. If World Cup qualifying starts slowly for the U.S., changes have to be made quickly.

Sacrificing this World Cup cycle for future cycles would be unacceptable because the talent the U.S. has right now demands that success be immediate, not sometime in the future.

Liviu Bird is a goalkeeper for Seattle Pacific University and editor-in-chief of The Falcon, Seattle Pacific’s student newspaper. Follow him on Twitter.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

On Wednesday night, the U.S. National Team ushered in the Jurgen Klinsmann era with a 1-1 tie against Mexico in Philadelphia. The new U.S. coach spent most of the evening with a smile on his face, and although the first half of his debut was less than promising, the second half provided plenty of reason to be optimistic.

The U.S. started in a 4-2-3-1 formation that is designed to spring into a 4-3-3 on the attack and sink into a 4-5-1 on defense. It is primarily a possession formation that engineers attacks from the back to the front.

However, in the first half, the U.S. was not getting enough players high to make the formation truly effective. The 4-2-3-1 works only if the team is able to attack with numbers. At times, only three to five U.S. players would go up against seven or eight Mexican defenders. All of the attacking players, the defensive midfielders and at least the strong-side outside back must be involved in the attack.

Working out of the back, the U.S. was not finding the outside backs enough in the build-up. They were doing a good job of pulling high and wide, and the center backs were pulling to the width of the 18-yard box, but Mexico was able to sit centrally for most of the game because the outsides were not involved enough. Getting the ball wide opens up space in the middle for the defensive midfielders to check to the ball in the 4-2-3-1 formation.

However, in a formation set up for possession, Kyle Beckerman was Klinsmann’s most shrewd selection. He always plays simple, does not lose the ball and gets stuck in on tackles defensively. Beckerman excelled in this game, especially during a shaky first half. Finding his feet in the middle allowed Jose Torres and Landon Donovan to get the ball wide in the attacking half when not much was going on for the U.S. in that space.

Physically, the U.S. was still imposing, minus on the Mexico goal. The team is not afraid to get in on tackles. The U.S. goal was a result of Brek Shea’s ability to hold off his defender physically and slot a ball across the goal to Robbie Rogers, who scored on his first touch of the game.

Speaking of Rogers, the substitutes really sparked the U.S. in the second half. Juan Agudelo dribbled at players, Shea created chances and Rogers put one away. Shea assisted the goal and got behind the Mexican defense in the last 10 minutes. Rogers got taken down behind the defense and should have drawn a red card, using his pure pace to beat a defender who had two or three yards on him at the start.

The U.S. got much better on the attack toward the end of the game, largely due to the substitutions. Donovan, who was quiet for the majority of the first hour, was more involved in the latter stages. When Clint Dempsey comes in for the U.S., the attack will only get better.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse for a team playing under a new coach, coming up against an established team with recent success such as Mexico. Now, it is time to iron out the details. The U.S. was shaky on set pieces, both offensively and defensively, including the Mexico goal and Rafael Marquez’s near miss at the far post in the second half. Of course, not all U.S. personnel was available for selection; it will be interesting to see what Klinsmann will do with a full roster at his disposition.

Nonetheless, it is clear from this game (and the history of the U.S. team in general) that Klinsmann might do well to find a style that better suits the physicality of American players and appeals less to the technical side, which is lacking in comparison to the rest of the world. The U.S. found success against Mexico in the final third using its speed and power, not its technical ability. Perhaps it is time for Klinsmann to embrace that as the “culture” of the U.S. team and not get too caught up in playing pretty soccer.

Liviu Bird is a goalkeeper for Seattle Pacific University and editor-in-chief of The Falcon, Seattle Pacific’s student newspaper. You can follow him on Twitter here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Major League Soccer is not doing American soccer any favors by having its all-stars play against top foreign teams year after year. The entertainment value is never as high as expected, and it inevitably just leads to more discussion about how far behind the rest of the world Americans are. That is hardly worth the large payday the league likely gets for putting on these spectacles.

From the players’ perspective, it is difficult enough to just play in an all-star game. The majority of players are not used to playing with one another, which is obvious in their understandably disjointed effort against well-oiled and well-acquainted teams.

Nobody on either side of the ball takes these games seriously, either. The goals are to get everybody some playing time and avoid injury. Looking at the recent MLS All-Star Game, three MLS goalkeepers saw playing time, along with 19 field players. Manchester United was performing at less-than-maximal levels also. Sir Alex Ferguson was more concerned with his players’ fitness levels.

“We’ve trained well and, during the games, played some good stuff,” striker Wayne Rooney said to the Manchester United website. “Basically, it’s all about getting the fitness work in to try and prepare for the upcoming season.”

Surely, there are better ways to showcase the talent in MLS. If Commissioner Don Garber really needs to flaunt it with an all-star game, bringing back the traditional East vs. West matchup would allow the game to be what it is meant to be – a show of talent and entertainment. As for the foreign teams, which come to the United States because of the expanding fan base, the revenue tours offer and the training facilities in place, have them play against each other.

Matchups between foreign teams and MLS teams do not really work. The MLS calendar is still incompatible with the rest of the world’s. By the time mid-season friendlies roll around, teams are concerned with the playoff run and not injuring or overworking players. This just pressures coaches to put their reserve teams on the field for at least half of the game, and the Seattle Sounders FC vs. Manchester United game showed what happens in those situations.

Besides United’s 7-0 embarrassment of the Sounders on their own field, the inconvenience of these friendlies has culminated in some other noteworthy, yet ultimately meaningless, results. Last year, Sporting Kansas City defeated United 2-1, but this year, United has been perfect in three matches against MLS opponents, brushing aside the Sounders, All-Stars and Chicago Fire. Manchester City defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1, while Portsmouth tied Charleston 0-0, and Orlando beat Newcastle United 1-0. Red Bull New York lost to PSG before tying Arsenal in the Emirates Cup in London.

These results, some of which do not reflect well on MLS, prompted Garber to lament MLS clubs’ effort in mid-season friendlies.

“Our view is that if we’re going to play these games, we ought to play to win,” the MLS commissioner said. “And if a team can’t fit it into their schedule either because of congestion or their own priorities, then they shouldn’t play in those games.”

Sure, don’t play the friendlies. Give up the additional revenue that sell-out crowds at these games bring. If MLS is serious about competing as a top league in the world, concessions must be made to allow these games to happen. However, MLS could take some steps in its scheduling process to make these friendlies more interesting and entice coaches to go for a win.

The league could leave a bit more room in the month of July to accommodate both friendlies and the start of CONCACAF Champions League play. That would mean stretching the calendar a bit, which has been in discussion for a while.

“At some point, we’re going to be able to push that calendar deeper and deeper into March and perhaps into February,” Garber said. “And when we’re able to do that, I think we’ll be able to free up some of the congestion.”

Unfortunately, not all MLS clubs will be able to accommodate a change that easily. Real Salt Lake, Chicago, Columbus, DC United, New York, New England, Toronto FC and (starting next year) Montreal Impact all will have trouble handling early games at home because of the weather. The only way for them to accommodate it would be to have them go on extended road trips early in the season and perhaps hold preseason training somewhere away from home, which would put a strain on their budgets.

No amount of calendar stretching solves the problem on the other side of the ball, save for a complete compliance with the European calendar, which will never happen. Foreign teams will still be concerned primarily with fitness and preparation for their season.

In other words, will likely never care about MLS friendlies.

Liviu Bird is a goalkeeper for Seattle Pacific University and editor-in-chief of The Falcon, Seattle Pacific’s student newspaper. You can follow him on Twitter here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

After delaying the release of the U.S. national team roster, head coach Bob Bradley finally came out with his list of the 23 men who will wear the red, white, and blue in the U.S. team’s June 4 friendly against Spain and in the CONCACAF Gold Cup June 5 through 25. As has become expected, the roster is a mix of youth and experience, and it is not without its areas for concern.

Chief among these problem areas on the roster is the forward position. Only three forwards even made the cut, and of the three, only Jozy Altidore has considerable national-team experience. Unfortunately, despite Bradley’s notion that Altidore was “unlucky” at the World Cup, his form for the national team and his club as of late has been sub-par. It appears the U.S. will look to its midfield for goal production, as it did during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Chris Wondolowski and Juan Agudelo are the other forwards. Agudelo has shown promise, scoring two goals in his meager four caps for the team, and Wondolowski has been on a tear for the last season in Major League Soccer, but both are unproven on the larger stage of international competition. That being said, this could be their big chance for a breakout.

There is also a serious lack of wide midfielders, which likely accounts for Robbie Rogers’ selection. Somebody is going to have to play outside. Landon Donovan has played there and can do the job, but it would not be surprising to also see Maurice Edu played wider, with his speed and touch. Benny Feilhaber could also possibly play out there. It will be interesting to see how Bradley solves this little problem, which is still a problem, but not as big as the problem of who will score the goals.

In most areas of the field, the usual suspects will patrol for the U.S. Donovan has become a staple of the midfield and always seems to do well in international competitions these days – a stark and welcome contrast to his early days of missed opportunities and poor performances. Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Edu all had solid World Cup appearances and appear to be geared up to make another run at it.

Freddy Adu has somehow clawed his way back into the picture despite spending all season at Turkish second-division Rizespor. Jermaine Jones of Blackburn is another interesting selection who has been waiting for his chance to get after it on this stage for a while, held back mostly by injuries and his inexperience.

Nick Rimando of Real Salt Lake has been rewarded for his steady play in domestic and CONCACAF competitions with a call-up. However, Bob Bradley has already said he will stay with the club and only be called into camp if needed. This oversight is unfortunate because he is in better form than Marcus Hahnemann, but it is encouraging to see him included in the trio of netminders in any case. He has been long-deserving of an opportunity.

In the back, it should also be business as usual for the U.S. Carlos Bocanegra will be back, as will Oguchi Onyewu. Jay DeMerit has been left out, but Tim Ream could prove to be a capable replacement. His MLS form has been good and he is still young, which goes nicely with Bocanegra and Cherundolo’s veteran statuses. Eric Lichaj could also see considerable time in the tournament.

Two glaring omissions from the roster are DeMerit and Charlie Davies. Neither are too surprising, though. Davies is still making a comeback from his barrage of injuries that need not be repeated, and both he and DeMerit have had niggling injuries that have kept them out of MLS play this season. However, it would have been nice to see Davies get his chance in the Gold Cup, especially with his experience in international competition and his fair form so far this season. He will get his chance at some point, but it is a shame it could not be in an international tournament on home soil, especially considering the U.S. situation at forward right now.

Overall, the roster is decently strong. This is an important tournament for the U.S., with a berth to the Confederations Cup on the line. The U.S. used the Confederations Cup as a springboard to their World Cup success, turning heads in the process. Its importance is reflected in Bradley’s selections.

Projected starting lineup for the U.S. in the Gold Cup (4-4-2): Howard; Lichaj, Ream, Bocanegra, Cherundolo; Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Edu; Altidore, Agudelo.

Liviu Bird is a journalism student at and plays goalkeeper for Seattle Pacific University. You can follow him on Twitter here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

SEATTLE – Since the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers inaugurated Major League Soccer’s Cascadia Cup rivalry on Saturday night, fans and journalists alike have been proclaiming that the game was revolutionary for soccer in the United States. However, it may have just illuminated yet again why soccer is not the biggest sport here.

The organizations and their supporter groups traded jibes on Twitter, Facebook and in person all week leading up to the game. The build-up was reminiscent of the Super Bowl (in the Northwest, anyways).

The atmosphere lived up to the hype. Images of the giant banners unveiled by the Emerald City Supporters made the rounds on the internet while the game was still being played. Members of the Timbers Army who managed to get in on the measly 500-ticket away allocation stomped and raved in thenortheast corner of Qwest Field all night long.

This prompted Steve Kelley to write a column in The Seattle Times titled, “This is how soccer should feel in America.” Kelley lauded the extravagant atmosphere and commented that “it was a celebration of what the game slowly is becoming in this country.”

Not to say that the atmosphere was not impressive, not to say that having a rivalry the magnitude of the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver triangle will not be good for soccer in America and not to take away from the storied saga of Sounders-Timbers hatred dating back to the old NASL days. However, soccer fans in America might want to hold off on proclamations of revolution for now.

The reaction to this gameshould be another reminder of why soccer is not the most popular sport in America. Average American sports fans crave extravagance and spectacle. Thevast majority of soccer games are not like that, though.

Washington’s other professional soccer team, the Kitsap Pumas, only drew 352 fans earlier that day – and it was sunny during the Pumas’ game, not pouring rain. This pales in comparison to the 1,000-plus the club averaged two seasons ago in its first season as a franchise, when the novelty had not yet worn off. (Disclaimer: I trained with them all that season.)

Conversely, attendances rose 15 percent in the Blue Square Premier League in England between 2008/09 and 2009/10, which is four steps below the Premier League. Average attendance grew from 1,800 to just over 2,000 during that time. And that happened in England, where clubs of all levels are so geographically close that fans routinely travel to their favorite club’s away games.

Lower-level attendances are on the rise in England because true soccer fans are able to enjoy the kick-and-chase slugfests played out in bumpy mud pits as well as elegant passing displays played out in the palaces of the beautiful game. The spectacle is not the attraction – the soccer is.

Most people talking about the Cascadia Cup opener on Saturday light up when they talk about the crowd and the hype. In turning to the game itself, they display far less enthusiasm. Kelley dedicated only the last four paragraphs to the game in a 700-word column.

The game itself was fairly entertaining, even though players had trouble dealing with the conditions. If the majority of enthusiasm around the game were centered on Alvaro Fernandez’s solid performance or anything else that actually happened on the field, my sentiments would be different.

However, as it stands, the first installment of the Cascadia Cup is only another symptom of American distortion of soccer. The atmosphere should only be a bonus, not the substance of the entire experience. When Americans learn how to appreciate both, we will have truly made it.

Liviu Bird is a journalism student at and plays goalkeeper for Seattle Pacific University. You can follow him on Twitter here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

With professional goalkeepers complaining about the new EURO 2008 ball, I feel like, as a member of the greatest union in football, I need to shed some light on this subject. Besides, Steve wanted my opinion.

Firstly, yes, technology is making our job much harder in recent times. Beginning as early as the adidas Predator boots, through this latest innovation of the EUROPASS ball, equipment manufacturers have been trying to make the game more exciting by making it easier to score goals.

However, ever since football was invented, technology has been improving. Adi Dassler began the trend with his removable studded boot. And many people on the site can remember the old balls, affectionately called Mitre Rocks, which hurt to kick, head, and sometimes look at.

With the improvement of technology, players have become more skilled. New equipment, along with new training methods, fitness regimes, and diets has made the modern footballer a formidable athlete. Besides, goalkeeper gloves have also become more advanced, with the Sells Exosphere and Nike Total 90 Confidence, so saving shots has also become marginally easier.

I have not played with the new EUROPASS ball, although I have bought several replicas for use in training. The newer balls, adidas Teamgeist, EUROPASS, and Nike Aerow, have a way of making good shots into great shots and mediocre shots into decent attempts. Along with affecting shots, long balls travel further, and as a goalkeeper, that means goal kicks and kicks from the hands also fly farther.

Another controversial subject in the football world recently, along with the new 6+5 rule proposal, is the implementation of goal-line technology. As with the development of the balls and boots, this is both beneficial and detrimental to a goalkeeper, depending on the situation. You know the scenarios. The ball crosses the line but the goalkeeper quickly pulls it back from behind the line to make it look like it did not. Or, the ball doesn’t cross the line but the referee calls it a goal.

So in conclusion, the technology will keep improving. As goalkeepers, especially those lucky enough to be paid to do play, it is our responsibility to improve with the technology. In terms of the balls, the extra movement encourages the correct technique of not diving until it is absolutely necessary.

Goalkeepers like Jens Lehmann should stop complaining and just get on with it, like Gianluigi Buffon has: “Maybe we just have to get used to it. But it won’t matter, I’ll get the ball anyway.”

That’s the attitude a professional goalkeeper should have.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This week, the 58th FIFA Congress is taking place in Sydney, presided over by Mr. FIFA President Sepp Blatter. As part of the agenda, the delegates have approved the 6+5 rule, which would allow any team to field only five foreign players on the pitch at one time. This rule is to be implemented by 2012 all around the world.

However, the European Union has declared such a rule illegal. Also, despite the best efforts of the FIFA delegation to show that the 6+5 rule is necessary, my research has yielded only inconclusive proof for the need of such a rule, based on comparisons of several European leagues and cup competitions.

European Cup finals

Here are the lineups Manchester United and Chelsea fielded in Moscow (foreigners noted with an asterisk):

Manchester United — Edwin van der Sar*, Patrice Evra*, Owen Hargreaves, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo*, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic*, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Carlos Tevez* (6+5).

Chelsea — Petr Cech*, Ashley Cole, Claude Makelele*, Michael Essien*, Ricardo Carvalho*, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Didier Drogba*, Michael Ballack*, Florent Malouda*, John Terry (4+7).

In the UEFA Cup Final, Zenit Saint Petersburg sent out a team made up of seven homegrown players and four foreigners. Rangers had exactly a six plus five lineup.

So, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Manchester United, and Rangers already followed the rule, without being required to do so, and without any influence from outsiders. In both Cups, the team with more homegrown players went on to win. This seems to point to the idea that the 6+5 rule is not necessary. But read on…

Scotland

Looking outside the Premiership (seems nobody ever does this anymore), there are plenty of other European leagues that can be influenced by this ruling. Namely the Scottish Premier League, where Old Firm rivals Celtic and the aforementioned Rangers have had a stranglehold on the league for a very long time.

In the last Old Firm derby of the season, Celtic broke the rule by two players (7+4), while Rangers followed it exactly (6+5). In this match, Daniel Cousins of Rangers was the only foreigner to score, and the influential red card was shown to a Scotsman, Rangers’ Steven Whittaker.

Keep in mind that, while Celtic won the league, Rangers had what most people will call a more successful season, finishing as runners-up (which qualifies them for the Champions League), as well as winning the Scottish Cup and reaching the UEFA Cup Final.

Italy

The top four teams in the Serie A this season were Inter Milan, Roma, Juventus, and Fiorentina, in that order. The Italian title resembled the Premiership crown race, with the top two pulling away, the next two places relatively secured, leaving the rest to chase.

Looking at lineups from several matches, as well as complete squad lists, Inter Milan benefits the most from foreign influx, while Roma, Juventus, and Fiorentina rely heavily on homegrown producers. Specifically, in the last Roma v Juventus match of the season on the 23rd of April, which ended in a 2-2 draw, Roma put out a team in 6+5, while Juventus fielded a team of even more Italians, in a 7+4.

The league table, just like the one in England, supports the argument in favor of the new rule, but the fact that three of the top four clubs (although not the champions) normally play with more Italians than foreigners cannot be ignored. Also, in the Coppa Italia final (Italy’s FA Cup), Roma defeated a foreigner-laden Inter Milan squad.

Conclusion

It is natural that the best players will gravitate towards the same club, due to monetary influence and the desire to put oneself in the best possible situation for success. Therefore, the best homegrown stars will bond with the best foreign players to achieve their common goal of success, at any club that can afford them. Juventus and Manchester United are perfect examples of this. Both are clubs with great histories and great legacies within their own country, and thus an ability to attract local talent, and internationally, bringing an ability to attract foreign talent, not to mention a well-funded transfer kitty.

In football competition, results and statistics do not lie when looked at objectively. In the research I have presented here, teams with more foreign starters have excelled in domestic leagues (Celtic and Inter Milan), but not necessarily in others (Man United and Chelsea). In European Cups, it appears that, this season, the competitions have proven a 6+5 rule to be unnecessary, with the two winning teams in UEFA’s premier cups fielding more homegrown stars than foreigners. The domestic cup winners I mentioned (Rangers and Roma) upheld the trend.

However, Inter Milan’s record, as well as those of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain cannot be ignored. Their use of foreigners is not a secret or a surprise. Therefore, it cannot be stated that the rule is definitely useless.

The general trend is that the clubs with the most money can attract the best players, foreign or otherwise. Therefore, perhaps a better solution would be to instill a kind of salary cap, with only a given amount of players on the same team being allowed to make a certain amount of money in wages.

However, this is really a matter of opinion. Everybody’s opinion is valid in this argument, and I believe there is no right or wrong answer, at least based on statistics and general trends across European football, where there is the most controversy over the 6+5 idea.

Please leave a comment and let Soccerlens readers know your opinion on the matter. I’ll start: I am against the 6+5 rule because it adds too much regulation and complication to the game. In my opinion, a salary cap like the one I mentioned would be a better solution to evening out domestic league tables.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This article refers to a previous USA-England matchup. Follow the latest England v USA match here.

One word can describe the United States Men’s National Team’s effort tonight against England: disappointing. The hype that this match has been getting was grossly undermined by a lackluster performance on the pitch by the players in anthracite (that’s the official name of the color) kits.

Earlier this week, Bob Bradley stated that this match was “an opportunity to gain respect and we refer to the idea that we play when there are European fixtures and we are part of the card and it is a chance for our players to step up and show where we are. We take them very seriously.”

And the US cannot be blamed for a lack of effort. The intensity was there, but with a squad made up chiefly of inexperienced national team players, the result was always going to be difficult to get. I predicted earlier that a big loss might be the result (for the record, I also predicted that Donovan would not start), and unfortunately, I was right.

There are two reasons for this loss that stand out glaringly head and shoulders above the rest. In hindsight, these reasons can also be attributed to many of the losses the US has suffered against good opposition in the past couple of years (World Cup 2006 and Copa America specifically).

Lack of experience

Looking at the starting eleven for each side, England had seven players that played in the Champions League Final in Moscow and one in the FA Cup Final. The US had one player who played in a cup final in Europe this season, and that same player (DaMarcus Beasley) is just coming off of a serious knee injury.

Club and international football are two different things, but experience in big matches with clubs will lead to a confidence and feeling of belonging when players are called up to the national team.

Lack of composure

Not to say that the US was mentally out of the match. They did not succumb to the mental pressure that plagues any team playing at Wembley, but they did submit to physical pressure from the English side.

Fabio Capello said before the match that he was trying to instill a “winning mentality” and “more intensity, more pace, more speed, more pressing, and more going forward”, with an emphasis on pressing. They did press, taking the game to the US early, and it worked.

Every time a player in the back or in midfield (even in the attacking third at times) was put under a lot of pressure, they either tried to dribble the ball out of trouble or employ a favorite tactic of American teams from the grassroots level up to the national team, which is to hit a long ball and hope that something good happens. I call this “the hit and hope method”.

All the credit should go to the English team, who took advantage of set pieces, and an inexperienced second half goalkeeper in Brad Guzan to score two nice goals. First, a Beckham free kick that led to John Terry’s header, which he credited to Capello giving him the armband, and along with it “a massive boost”, followed by Steven Gerrard’s far post finish in the second half.

Looking forward

The US will have a chance to redeem themselves in Santander against Spain next Wednesday. Spain is a very talented and dangerous team, ranked fourth in the World (as of today) looking to prepare for success this summer in the European Championships, although they always tend to disappoint in big competitions, never getting the final result they are capable of.

Their squad is a formidable one also. I will let the names do the talking:
GOALKEEPERS: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid CF), José Manuel Reina (Liverpool FC), Andrés Palop (Sevilla FC).
DEFENDERS: Carlos Marchena (Valencia FC), Raúl Albiol (Valencia FC), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid CF), Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona), Álvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool FC), Fernando Navarro (RCD Mallorca), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal CF), Juanito (Real Betis).
MIDFIELDERS: Xavi Hernández (FC Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool FC), Cesc Fábregas (Ársenal), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia FC), Marcos Senna (Villarreal CF), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal CF), Rubén de la Red (Getafe CF).
FORWARDS: Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC), David Villa (Valencia CF), Dani Güiza (RCD Mallorca), Sergio García (Real Zaragoza).

The US has played Spain twice, losing both times.

In all honesty, things do not look good for the US, considering that their competition only gets tougher in their next two matches. However, just like any other experience in football, these matches can be learned from and it will help the team to move onto bigger things.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The European domestic leagues are coming to a close, but the US Men’s National Team players based on the continent are just getting warmed up. This summer will be an important one for the USMNT in their run-up to qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. A series of testing friendlies precedes the kickoff of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.

First, the USMNT will play England at Wembley (Wednesday 28 May, 20:00 GMT) then Spain in Santander (Wednesday 4 June, 21:00 GMT) before coming home to face Argentina (Sunday 8 June, 19:30 EDT) and Barbados (Sunday 15 June, 14:00 PDT).

Player Pool

Just yesterday Bob Bradley announced a thirty-three man player pool that the match squads will be chosen from. The squad that will travel to London will include twenty-two players and will be announced early next week.

GOALKEEPERS (5): Dominic Cervi (Out of Contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake).
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United).
MIDFIELDERS (10): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids).
FORWARDS (9): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Nate Jaqua (Out of Contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich).

“With the challenging schedule of friendlies we have organized to prepare for World Cup qualifying, this is an excellent opportunity to continue to evaluate our player pool and at the same time balance the workload,” Bradley said to ussoccer.com.

In order for the US to be successful against such established opposition, Bradley will have to pick a talented squad. That is why some of his selections surprise me. First of all, he has selected two players that are currently out of contract. While that does not necessarily point to a lack of ability, it does point to a lack of recent match and training experience.

The goalkeeping position is relatively weak for having such a great pool to choose from. Tim Howard is the only one of the EPL contingent on the squad. Granted that Brad Friedel has retired from the team, Kasey Keller is getting on in age, but what happened to Marcus Hahnemann? He was in the Poland squad, but is a glaring omission from this pool.

There are five uncapped players in the pool, and many names that I have never heard. Nineteen of the players have less than twenty caps.

Based on the player pool, here is my starting eleven against England. Yes, it is an unusual formation, but I believe this lineup will bring the most success based on the player selections Bradley has made.
GOALKEEPER: Tim Howard.
DEFENDERS (4): Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector.
MIDFIELDERS (3): Maurice Edu, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley.
FORWARDS (3): DaMarcus Beasley, Jozy Altidore, Eddie Johnson.

It will be interesting to see what this inexperienced player pool can do to national teams ranked 1st, 4th, and 11th by FIFA (accessed 16 May 2008). Nonetheless, it is shaping up to be another anti-climactic summer for the US National Team.

History

Besides the famous 1950 World Cup victory, the US has beaten England just one other time, in 1993 in Boston. Six other matches have resulted in six losses, including 8-1 in 1959, 10-0 in 1964, and 5-0 in 1985. Their last match against the British side was in 2005, which ended 2-1 in England’s favor despite Clint Dempsey’s first ever international goal.

In the same 1950 World Cup, the US lost to Spain 3-1 after being up 1-0 at halftime. The only other time they have faced the Iberians was in 1992 in Valladolid, losing 2-0.

Their record against Argentina, currently ranked number one in the world by FIFA, is just as poor as their record against England. The latest disappointment came in Copa America, when a watered down US squad lost 4-1 in one of Bob Bradley’s first matches. In non-friendly international competitions, Argentina has won matches by the score of 11-2, 6-1, and the aforementioned 4-1. The US defeated Argentina in the 1995 Copa America by a score of 3-0.

World Cup Qualification

Let’s not forget the reason the US is playing all of these opponents: to prepare for the World Cup, and qualifying for said World Cup, which begins on the 15th of June against Barbados in California. Barbados shrugged off Dominica’s challenge in the first round by a 2-1 aggregate score.

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying happens in four stages. A preliminary round (for teams ranked 14th through 35th) is played in a home-and-away, two-legged format, followed by a second preliminary round that brings in the rest of the teams (this is where we are now).

After the preliminary rounds, the remaining teams are put into three “semi-final” groups. They play each team in their group home and away. The top two in each group advance to the final stage.

The final stage is a six-team group competition similar to the semi-final stage. The top three teams qualify for the World Cup and the fourth place team will play a two-legged playoff tie against the fifth-placed team from CONMEBOL (South America).

As always, these first two stages have brought some interesting non-playing issues. The smaller nations have the most common problem: a lack of FIFA-approved stadia to host their matches. Because of this, some teams end up with two home legs because their opponent will move their “home” leg to their country instead. Or one leg will be played at a neutral site, such as RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, which played host to El Salvador v Anguilla. When neither team has a suitable stadium, they will usually play a one-off match at a neutral site.

Conclusion

Like many of the stadiums around the confederation, the US National Team is still under redevelopment. The player pool selections point to Bob Bradley playing his favorite card: bringing young players up to develop them for the future. This may not be a bad idea, but it might also bring a couple of heavy losses this summer. Only time will tell, though.

For those in the USA, the England match will be shown ESPN Classic and Galavision, the Spain match will be on ESPN2 and Galavision, and the Argentina match will be on ESPN Classic.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This is the moment North American soccer fans have been waiting for; the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final is here. However, with more exciting MLS action coming up this weekend, Americans are spoiled for choice as we creep closer to summer.

CONCACAF Champions Cup

This will be a good final, contested by two teams with rich histories in domestic and regional competition and stadiums that away teams do not enjoy traveling to.

Deportivo Saprissa will make their first appearance in the final since 2005, when they won it, one year after losing badly (5-1) at the same stage. When they managed to win, it was against a Mexican opponent, such as defending champions CF Pachuca, who will appear in the final once again this year. 2005 was also the last time there were no Mexican teams in the final — there has been at least one every year in the last decade except for 2004, when there were two Costa Rican teams competing for the Cup. Overall, all of these statistics point to one thing: an exciting final.

As for the first leg, which will be played in Costa Rica Wednesday night, the home side have the advantage. Home teams usually have an advantage, especially in competitions such as the Champions Cup, but Saprissa’s is a bit larger than usual. Saprissa have qualified for the Champions Cup four times in the new millennium, reaching the final twice. In that span, they have not lost a single match at home, even when they failed to advance.

With that in mind, Pachuca has a good advantage in playing the second leg at home. That is not an unusual advantage either, but it is important when playing two legs against a team like Saprissa. If Pachuca can hold the Costa Ricans to a draw, or even just a one goal advantage, they have a real chance of bringing the Cup back to Mexico.

The key to this tie is goals. Both of the tournaments leading goal-scorers, with three each, will be involved in this match. Luis Montes of Pachuca and Armando Alonso of Saprissa have provided the knockout blows for their team in both the quarter final and semi final fixtures, both scoring what proved to be the tie-winning goal at each stage.

Major League Soccer

Sometimes, it’s hard to get excited about a domestic competition when there is a thrilling regional final tie in the same week, but the MLS is just heating up to the point that I will probably be excited about it even in the same week as the Champions League final in Moscow.

The table has shifted around a bit again. The key movers:
• Kansas City Wizards has overtaken Chicago Fire at the top by defeating them 1-0 in Chicago. This defeat also dropped Chicago to fourth.
• Toronto FC jumped four places after beating fellow newcomers to the mid-table, Réal Salt Lake.
• DC United dropped to the bottom after losing to Columbus Crew, who leaped to second.
• San Jose Earthquakes’ first win of the season gives them new hope and a place third from bottom.

One of the biggest stories of this young season is how the front-runners from last season have stalled at the beginning of the new season. Champions Cup semi-finalists DC United and Houston Dynamo lie on the very bottom of the table, with only three points each, and only one win between them. Chivas USA, my prediction to win the league and cup double (MLS style) currently sit in the last playoff spot.

DC play a surging Salt Lake side this weekend, Chivas play Los Angeles Galaxy in the Los Angeles derby, and Houston travel to Columbus to take on a high-flying Crew side. This weekend is important for all of the “top” MLS teams to get their seasons on track. There is plenty of time left, with MLS not even through its first month of play in 2008, but these are the points that the second and third placed teams will look back on and regret dropping.

Results: DC United 1-2 Columbus Crew (MLS), Toronto FC 1-0 Réal Salt Lake (MLS), Red Bull New York 1-1 New England Revolution (MLS), Colorado Rapids 0-2 San Jose Earthquakes (MLS), Los Angeles Galaxy 2-2 Houston Dynamo (MLS), Chicago Fire 0-1 Kansas City Wizards (MLS), Chivas USA 0-2 FC Dallas (MLS).

Table
Kansas City Wizards 10
Columbus Crew 9
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FC Dallas 8
Chicago Fire 7
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New England Revolution 7
Colorado Rapids 6
Toronto FC 6
Chivas USA 4
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Réal Salt Lake 4
Red Bull New York 4
Los Angeles Galaxy 4
San Jose Earthquakes 3
Houston Dynamo 3
DC United 3

Fixtures: Deportivo Saprissa v CF Pachuca (CCC), FC Dallas v New England Revolution (MLS), Toronto FC v Kansas City Wizards (MLS), Columbus Crew v Houston Dynamo (MLS), DC United v Réal Salt Lake (MLS), Chicago Fire v Colorado Rapids (MLS), Los Angeles Galaxy v Chivas USA (MLS), Red Bull New York v San Jose Earthquakes (MLS).

This week brings a regional cup final, a big city derby, and league minnows looking to stay on top. A trivia question for you this week: what was the only American club to make it to a domestic and regional cup final, and what year was it?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News