World Cup and European leagues

[Hoosier Titan]

A day later, well done, US.  They have set themselves a new standard.  I've been thinking about how many good goalkeepers the US has produced, and wondering if the importance of basketball in our sports culture has something to do with it.  The rest of the world is catching up, but when today's keepers were kids, the US was still THE world power, of course.  Some of Tim Howard's best moves look like those of a basketball player.

I'd say Spain has some work to do on the back line before the World Cup.  Sergio Ramos, with his propensity to push forward on offense, has always caused some scary moments if coverage isn't there when possession changes.  Spain paid for that against the US and Ramos sat against South Africa.

And thanks for the bad kit photos, sac.  (Even though my eyes are still burning.)  Looks as though Newcastle supporters are going to suffer insult added to injury by having to look like a "deck chair on Blackpool beach."  The best comment, though, was from the former Norwich player who said he looked like "the filling of an egg and cress sandwich"--and I recognized his photo instantly. Good stuff.

[Mr. Ypsi]

si.com has an article up regarding ESPN's broadcast plans for the 2010 World Cup.  Among the highlights: they plan to broadcast EVERY game live; even better - Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa will apparently NOT be around!

[Hoosier Titan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8131801.stm

Argh!! The RAT!!     Although I shouldn't be surprised.  He's made nothing but bad decisions since leaving Liverpool.  And he was one of the main reasons I became a Liverpool supporter ten years ago--Gerrard was only a kid then, and MO wasn't much older. 

But I have to wonder about this from Man U's side--is there an air of desperation, now that CR and Tevez are gone?

[Stinger]

si.com has an article up regarding ESPN's broadcast plans for the 2010 World Cup.  Among the highlights: they plan to broadcast EVERY game live; even better - Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa will apparently NOT be around!

Right on Ypsi.    I think they can do much better than John Harkes and much better than Tommy Smith as well. 

[sac]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8131801.stm

Argh!! The RAT!!     Although I shouldn't be surprised.  He's made nothing but bad decisions since leaving Liverpool.  And he was one of the main reasons I became a Liverpool supporter ten years ago--Gerrard was only a kid then, and MO wasn't much older. 

But I have to wonder about this from Man U's side--is there an air of desperation, now that CR and Tevez are gone?

Owen was one of the reasons I started following Liverpool many years ago. 


Hasn't done much of anything since leaving Liverpool,  1/3 the number of games and 1/4 the number of goals in a little under the same number of years.  Unless he's 100% healthy, which he hasn't ever been I don't think he'll play much for ManU.

Berbatov, Owen and Rooney is a nice pairing if Owen can find his former form though.  It will look very weird to see him in a United shirt.........not just because United's new shirt looks weird either.

[Gotberg]

Onyewu signs for Milan:  http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_5418553,00.html

[ScotsFan]

While I don't have it on tape to study in slo-mo, I just saw Bradley's 'foul' again.  He arrived from a legal angle, and arrived less than 1 second after the ball left.  As a former coach and (very occasional) ref, I'm not sure it was even a foul, much less a card.  It was a total joke to be a red card.

Alas, if FIFA has an appeals system, I'm unaware of it.

At least some justice came of this red card that Michael Bradley received at the end of MNT's match with Spain.  Not only was Bradley forced to miss the championship game of the Confederations Cup, but FIFA piled on a 3 game suspension for some reason?! 

Well, in a sort of screw you to FIFA, Bradley will be able complete his suspension during the CONCACAF Gold Cup even though he isn't even on the roster for the MNT during the competition!    This is huge, because he would have missed their WC qualifier at Mexico coming up in August if this wasn't the case! 

In other news, is there no end to Real's spending spree this summer???  They have now crossed over the €220 million threshold with their signing of Karim Benzima for €35 million!  And apparently Real isn't done yet as they are now targeting Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery and are prepared to offer the French international €50 million for his services!  I'm sorry, but this sort of spending is a bit out of control if you ask me... 

[sac]

Ronaldo's introduction to the Real Madrid fans.........the video's worth a play

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8135671.stm

I can't think of a single American athlete who would draw such an audience for switching teams.  (never heard a Portuguese/English accent before )

[Hoosier Titan]

I saw the Ronaldo news and a clip from the video--the part where he loses the ball off the stage. 

I also have been wondering, given the worldwide financial instability that has been affecting most clubs, how Real can afford all this spending.
And with that crowd, I wondered how what stories those 80,000 people told their bosses about why they couldn't come to work!

[ScotsFan]

So did anyone watch El Tri take the Americans to the woodshed for an old-fashioned beat-down yesterday in the finals of the Gold Cup?  Personally, I'm not putting too much stock into that result as the US squad was made up of mostly young, unprovem and inexperience players at the international level.  I know Mexico didn't field their best team either, but they had more players with experience at the international level than the US did and the result showed glaringly in the 2nd half. 

Moving forward, this result should be relatively meaningless to the showdown between Mexico and the US at the Azteca in a couple of weeks as I would think the US will have virtually an entirely different roster heading into that WCQ than the one they fielded yesterday.  I could see one or two players from the GC roster get carried over to the one Bradley releases for the WCQ with Mexico which is why I'm not taking yesterday's result too harshly. 

All in all, I feel pretty good about this US squad's performance in this year's GC.  I know this wasn't the strogest field, but for this group of young and inexperienced players to go out and make it to the finals was a pretty good result.  And I think they exceeded everyone's expectations by going as far as they did.  It's just too bad that they had to be beaten so badly in the finals and at the hands of El Tri no less...    Hopefull the 1st teamers will go out and pick these boys up with a win over El Tri at the Azteca.  That would be some sweet revenge!  8)

[WLCALUM83]

2009-10 Bundesliga Season-Opening Match Final:

Defending league champ Wolfsburg 2, Stuttgart 0

[ECSUalum]

Anyone know if upcoming Ireland vs Cyprus and Italy vs Ireland World Cup qualifiers will be televised in US?

If not, any on line streaming access?

[Mr. Ypsi]

CONCACAF is getting really interesting.  With the US coming from behind to down El Salvador (2-1), Honduras over T & T (4-1), and Mexico slamming Costa Rica (3-0), Honduras and USA each have 13 points (with Honduras up on goal differential), while Mexico and CR both have 12 (with El Tri ahead on GD).  [At 5 points each, El Salvador and T & T are effectively eliminated.]

[doolittledog]

El Salvador and T & T are pretty much done.  But the top four spots are all up for grabs.  I don't want to see the US have to play in a play-in game to make the World Cup.  AND, I want to see us finish ahead of El Tri!!!

[sac]

El Salvador and T & T are pretty much done.  But the top four spots are all up for grabs.  I don't want to see the US have to play in a play-in game to make the World Cup.  AND, I want to see us finish ahead of El Tri!!!

Especially since as it stands at the moment, I believe the #4 Concacaf team would have to play Argentina!