USA News Archives

In many ways US soccer remains a bastard child. Unwanted by many sports fans in the states, and scoffed at by much of the rest of the world as second class. I generally try to ignore my countrymen who hate soccer. For the rest of the soccer world, I try to present a realistic picture of the current state of things to show they may not be as right as they think they are. This is my attempt, in writing, to show that US soccer may not be there yet, but is heading in the right direction.

I’ll start with the bad news. We still have a long way to go. These are the areas where I think the US is still lacking.

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In my previous Soccerlens column, I touched on the quality of soccer/football in the top domestic US league called MLS (Major League Soccer). Clearly, the subject isn’t an entirely comfortable one for the fans of the league and most home grown American soccer fans do tend to follow it.

I follow it as well, sometimes with excitement, sometimes in bewilderment, occasionally in shame. While can provide glimpses of delightful football, it can also be the ugliest soccer on the planet.

But, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then what makes the American soccer such a frequently tepid affair? In this piece, I tend to touch on some contentious subjects that hopefully will stimulate further debate. I hope that I can be critical and fair without using the British tabloid dismissive of the 2007 LA Galaxy as a “pub team”.

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Recently, there has been some criticism on the site about the state of soccer in the United States. However, I feel that this is not true, and because of that, I have decided to refute these claims based on the just finished 3-0 win in Poland.

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England v USA
Wednesday, 28 May 2008, Wembley

The USA will travel to London to play England in a friendly at Wembley on 28 May. Both teams will use the fixture as part of their preparations for their respective 2010 World Cup qualifying campaigns.

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Dan Leo takes an in-depth look at US Soccer, the problems it faces and what the future holds for soccer in America.

Soccer isn’t big in the US. It’s not a major sport. It’s not even a second tier sport. It’s below that.

The top American soccer league MLS draws the attendance numbers similar to small European nations, which makes it an insignificant presence on the American sports scene.
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Generous FIFA and Elo Ratings

FIFA has the US ranked at 28, while Elo has them at 29. Both are probably tad too generous, as the US national team plays far too many matches at home and against weak CONCACAF opposition. It rarely meets a quality international squad under a duress of sanctioned competition. The last time the US sent a squad - albeit of a B/C level - to an international event, it lost three straight games at Copa America with a 2-8 goal difference.

Major League Soccer is no great shakes either. In a recently completed Pan-Pacific tournament, the MLS champion Houston Dynamo was trounced 6:1 in the final by the Japanese Gamba Osaka club that was missing its top six Japanese players due to their national team commitment.
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In today’s video roundup we look at yesterday’s friendlies.

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Football fanatics in Europe would dismiss the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States as second-rate at best that embraces faded starts of European football for ludicrously large amount of cash. Well, to be frank, this notion is not entirely wrong but there’s no doubt that in the US, the players do play football and train as much hard and foster as lofty a dream as any footballer on Europe or South America does. Even if the Yanks may consider football as soccer.

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Without being one of England’s historic sporting rivals like Scotland or Germany, it’s a bit strange that there were some Americans pleased with England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

No one doubts that the Americans and the English have a somewhat tenuous history, but as far as recent politics go, things have generally been going the American way.

Sporting rivals are fairly non-existent as the mainstream American sports aren’t even played that heavily outside of the good old 50. But that seems to have taken a turn in the last couple of years as soccer gains in popularity, and Americans seek to both gain England’s approval and also become better competitors.

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So with Brazil confirmed last week as the official hosts of the World Cup 2014, unsurprisingly seeing as they were the only bidders, attention has already started to turn to World Cup 2018.

Several countries have put themselves forward for potentially hosting the World Cup in 11 years’ time, including England, the United States, China, Australia, Russia, Benelux (joint bidding between Belgium and Holland), and possibly Canada and Mexico.

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Soccer is still in diapers in America. It is not played on the street, in every park, or in every playground around the country, like it is in almost every other country. Kids don’t grow up exposed to the game on a daily basis – it’s not in the media, in politics or in recreation. We are making progress, but I believe we are still a generation or two away from challenging for a World Cup title.

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This Wednesday, the U.S. takes on Switzerland at St. Jakob Park in Basel. U.S. coach Bob Bradley has taken this opportunity to blood a few young players into the senior squad.

The squad features seven uncapped players, an two with only a single cap to their names.

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This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

Written by David Rini.

The most eye-opening component of being a fan of U.S. soccer (I’m not really trying to break myself of the habit of calling it that yet, so apologies all around) is learning just how many of us seem to have dual- or triple-citizenship. We must, based on the number of Americans who support national teams other than our own. My dad and brother both pulled for Italy in the World Cup last year. My mom went the other direction, for France. Virtually no one in my own family unit pulled for the U.S. Ignore the fact that my family is about as Italian as Papa Gino’s and that my maternal family tree starts in Canada and ends in the awesomely French territory of…also Canada (vive Québécois!)

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This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

Written by James Riggio.

The time has come when Giuseppe Rossi has to make yet another important decision.

Just when the 20-year-old New Jersey native thought he was finished, he will soon have to make up his mind of what to do as far as his international career goes. Perhaps he already has, having made it clear that he wants to represent Italy, the birth nation of his parents. He moved back to Italy when he was 13.

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With the signing of such internationally known stars as Beckham, Reyna and Blanco, many have asked me if I think soccer will every “Catch On” in America.

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Here we preview who will make the World Cup squad in 2010 for the United States. Opinions, recent performances, and tactical decisions are all factored into the decision. Updates will be posted regularly, as the season goes on.

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For starters I want to say congratulations to Brazil and Germany for making to the final of the Womens World Cup (which plays on Sunday). They deserve it; the Brazilians outplayed the US in today’s semifinal match and deserve their place at a shot for the title. Now on to the horrible coaching job by US Coach Greg Ryan.

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Before anyone condemns this article, I’m not trying to say that USA National Team Coach Bob Bradley is doing a bad job. That’s not what this is about. This is about an opportunity. If US Soccer really wants to become a world power, then it needs to finally do what every other major national team has done. Hire a major international coach to handle things for the team.

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On September 9, 2007 the United States will take on #1 ranked and 5 time World Cup champion Brazil. US head coach Bob Bradley announced his roster and it is not short of what would be playing in any World Cup if it were to happen today, and Brazil is bringing their first team as well. Here’s how they match up:

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US soccer blog, StateSideFooty, has had a successful first couple of weeks, getting a mention on the ESPN blogs and dozens of emails from MLS and US soccer fans writing in to compliment Danny and Brian on their new venture.

Not all new blogs thrive (or even survive) in the long run, but the way SSF has taken off and built a readership, I’m sure that it will become the best source for MLS news and US national team news in the next 12 months.

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For all our US-based readers (and for anyone interested in soccer in the US), please head over (and give a warm welcome to) StateSideFooty.com.

StateSideFooty.com brings you football soccer news from a US perspective, and covers the MLS, the United States Men’s National Team and European football. SSF is written by Brian Lomax and Daniel Miedzinski, who Soccerlens readers might recognize from their articles here.

Congratulations on your new blog guys, and I hope you do well.

FCBNews blogger Nig recently posted an article stating that he thinks there should be less international play, because it affects many clubs in Europe and it generally isn’t the same quality of play that you would see in a game between EPL heavyweights Manchester United and Liverpool, or La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

However, as an American, I see international play differently. I look at it as not as an encroachment on my favorite clunb team, but an opportunity for players to represent their countries.

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Still down in the dumps after the USA debacle at Copa America? Forget about it. Instead, check out our u-20 team playing in the FIFA 2007 u-20 World Cup in Canada this year. If you’re looking for heart, passion, and skills, then this is the place you need to be. And all of these traits were on display during the USA 2-1 win over world power Brazil.

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In the coming days and weeks, Team USA will play in the Copa America Tournament. Here are some of the things we as fans should look for.

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The USSF just doesn’t get it. I understand that winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup gives us the opportunity to play in the Confederations Cup in 2009. So I get why we sent our strongest team to the tournament. Now that the Gold Cup is almost over, it is time to put out the roster for the Copa America, a tournament that we were invited to.

Below, I’ve listed the players that will represent the United States in that tournament. Looking at this roster, I can’t help but feel that we are going to get destroyed.

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As many US Mens National Team (US Mens National Team) fans will tell you, Landon Donovan is far and away our best player.

He possesses all the talent in the world, and yet he is also viewed as the player most likely to disappear at the worst possible time. We all remember the 2006 World Cup fiasco in Germany, which saw us knocked out of the group stages as a result of our poor performances.

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DaMarcus Beasley - USA international and Manchester City winger - is seen in this video doing something players have always been suspected of doing.

We’ve found proof, finally, but I’m not sure it was worth it.

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Tomas Rosicky.

USA 0-3 Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic faced the US in what promised to be a tightly contested match. The US had a decent qualifying run and had a balanced team on paper. While they did not have the kind of flair players that the Czechs possessed in their ranks, they were known for their strength, determination, grit and teamwork.

They showed neither of the above as the Czechs steamrolled them in what was easily the best performance by any team yet. Apart from Reyna hitting the post in the first half, the US did not live up to even the outside chance that many observers, including myself, had given them. They had no reply to the Czechs defensive organization, the fluidity and creativity in their midfield, and the finishing provided up front by the likes of Koller and Rosicky.

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Czech Republic 3, USA 0

Czech Republic Goals: Koller 5, Rosicky 36 76.

For a team ranked number 5 in Fifa latest world rankings, USA were hugely out of depth. Commentators called this the best ‘team performance’ of the World Cup so far, with the Czech Republic (incidentally, ranked 2nd in the world) comprehensively and comfortably beating USA. They weren’t far off the mark. USA rarely troubled Peter Cech, apart from one Reyna shot that hit the post after Cech had missed it.

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