That's On Point: The Web Site

A day off for the first time in nearly three weeks from the World Cup.

How would a bunch of loose odds and ends sound? Does that sound like something you might be interested in?

Money Makers:

Let's take a gander at who's stock increased at the World Cup:

* Kevin-Prince Boateng, Ghana -- The Ghana/Germany midfielder starting coming on at the end of the year for Portsmouth, up to and including ending Michael Ballack's Cup dreams in the FA Cup final. He seems a good fit for English football, especially for a midtable team looking for an unpredictable, explosive element. It was hinted on ESPN that Roberto Martinez might be interested in signing him for Wigan. Teams like Stoke City, Birmingham and perhaps even Newcastle United should take notice.

Boateng's been great at the World Cup, no doubt, but in the weekly grind of the club season his discipline will become and issue. Not sure he's a consistent, week-in, week-out guy you build a team around. A definite loose cannon that would be a boom or a bust in the right spot.

Still think Tottenham made the right decision to let him go. Can't see him functioning side-by-side with Tom Huddlestone.

* Michael Bradley, U.S. -- Wrote a lot about this already. Bradley might in the envious position where he can wait to go to the right situation to arise, rather than cashing in off a strong World Cup.

His name is out there. The right people are tracking him. Another year or six months at Borussia Mönchengladbach aren't going to ruin the 22-year-old.

Bradley ought to be picky and wait for a Top 25-ish European club comes calling with some type of playing time assurances.

* Mesut Özil, Germany -- Lived up to the pre-tournament hype. Wonder if he follows the path of the man he replaced at Werder Bremen -- Diego? If I'm a club like AC Milan I open up the check book and do everything I can to sign the 21-year-old. Can't see Bayern Munich(*) really needing to sign him at this point and no other German clubs probably will pay what he's going to cost.

I'm certain Arsene Wenger is wondering right now if Cesc Fabregas leaves for Barcelona, is Özil a player to reconfigure the Gunners lineup and build around?

(*) Didn't list Thomas Mueller since, at Bayern Munich, he's essentially at the top of the pyramid.

* Keisuke Honda, Japan -- The bleach-blond haired attacking midfielder-cum-striker stood out for Japan. That said, CSKA Moscow just bought him in January, signing him to a four year deal. Unless somebody makes them a highball offer, can't see him making a move even though his stock will never be as high as it is right now.

* Luis Suarez, Uruguay -- With 49 goals in 48 games last year for Ajax, you'd think the Suarez was already a hot commodity. Then you remember names like Mateja Kežman and Afonso Alves. Suarez's brace vs. South Korea helped allay some doubts. He's probably well on his way to a solid team in La Liga, unless the long-standing Arsenal rumors prove to be correct.

* Siphiwe Tshabalala, South Africa -- He was just released by Kaizer Chiefs. On the basis of his pretty goal, which opened the scoring account at the World Cup, some club out there is going to sign him, if only for the publicity ... and maybe his fun-to-say last name.

* Giovani Dos Santos, Mexico -- Don't think the Mexican starlet's game is suited for England, so it's up to Harry Redknapp wants to sell him. Doesn't appear as if Frank Rijkaard decided to sign him long-term at Galatasaray, so a savvy club might want to grab him on loan for the 2010-11 season.

* Park Chu-Young, South Korea -- Maybe he's in the right spot, playing a key role at AS Monaco. Still, his free kicks along would make him an asset at a bigger club.

* Miloš Krasić, Serbia -- Another CSKA. Perhaps he's destined to be the Serbia version of Croatia's Dario Srna, sticking in Eastern European relative obscurity.

* Alexis Sánchez, Chile -- Another guy that lived up to the hype at the World Cup, standing out in Marcelo Bielsa's attacking side. Figure he's on track for a move up the Italian ladder from Udinese or Spain or even a big English club. He'll have plenty of offers.

Almost as intriguing to the next destination for Bielsa, who turned heads with his unconventional approach with Chile.

* Young Ghana players -- Any one with an Asamoah in their name looks bound for bigger and better things. Maybe a guy like Kwadwo Asamoah moves up the Italian ladder. Ghana players have played in Serie A with some success, notably Sammuel Kuffour.

Pea Shooter:

I'll be 100 percent honest. Until watching the World Cup I was fairly convinced Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez -- Chicharito -- was a business decision by the Glazers, more than a football decision by Sir Alex Ferguson.

My line of thinking, Manchester United is touring North America this summer. What better way to drive up interest than by signing a Mexican rising star?

Mexico remains a untapped market for European clubs since Mexicans traditionally tend to be fiercely loyal to their own players and domestic league -- with good reason, too. There's a lot of money to be made from Mexican fans, too. Simply look at all the El Tri friendlies staged by the Mexican Federation on U.S. soil in the pre-World Cup run-up.

On shirt sales alone, Hernandez would provide a solid cash injection for Manchester United, which needs every penny it can find.

After the Cup, I've changed my line of thinking. Sure, Hernandez is going to help United at the cash register.

But this move looks a lot more like when the club signed Park Ji-Sung, another move labeled a publicity stunt to raise money in South Korea.

Mexican players have had trouble adjusting to England. Maybe Hernandez bucks the trend. He's at least young fresh legs and not the rotting corpse of the artist formerly known as Michael Owen.

On "Replay"

Goal technology in some way shape or form that doesn't slow or stop the game. Yes please.

Replay, challenges, etc. No thanks.

Unless you're playing a "FIFA" game there is no way to accurately call offside correctly 100 percent of the time. It's an impossibility.

Considering all match officials are connected via headset, there should be some kind of mechanism, too, where the fourth official or somebody off field and note the ref when a player fakes a foul which draws a card.

FIFA can't bury its head in the stand any longer. There's simply too many eyeballs watching these games to allow a gaffe like Lampard's "goal" to ever happen again.

Back to (Premier League) Business:

* I hope every single Liverpool fan who'd grown tired of Rafa Benitez's rotations system rolls out the red carpet at Anfield for the arrival of Roy Hodgson. He'll have to adjust, but the last two seasons at Fulham Hodgson played, as injuries would allowed, an unchanged 4-4-2 week-to-week.

As it stands the Liverpool squad is hovering right around 50 players right now, which is borderline obscene. Not sure how you pare it down without giving away players at cut rate prices. And no, it doesn't seem likely Clint Dempsey is going north with Hodgson.

The bigger issue for Liverpool, naturally, is the long term health of both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.

If Hodgson can't make it work at Anfield, time to clean complete house and see where the chips fall.

* Fulham fans are on the ledge right now. Can you blame them with Sven-Goran Eriksson's name at the top of the next boss at Craven Cottage.

The fall from grace is rapid in European soccer.

Fulham could be going from playing in the Europa League final to fighting off relegation in the span of 10 months.

* Manchester City decided to spend almost $35 million on David Silva. A good player, mind you.

Where is he going to play? City is another team with almost 50 players on the senior squad. Does this mean half the Premier League or Championship is going to be Liverpool and City players out on loan?

And wouldn't Roberto Mancini be better served soaring up the defense with more Jérôme Boateng types than attacking midfield players, which the club has in spades?

Must-See TV:

There's no way I could endorse Fox Soccer Channel running the "500 Greatest Goals" series. It's pure bliss.

Some fun stuff learned from watching the past few days:

* Martin O'Neill didn't play wearing glasses.

* Andy Gray has put on a lot of weight.

* Martin Tyler's voice hasn't changed in about 30-odd years.

* In 1997 Vfl Bochum wore, arguably, the worst-looking kit in history. Something that would make even MLS teams at the time blush. Take a gander.

* * *

My brief thoughts on the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals tomorrow.

Labels: 2010 world cup, English Premier League, EPL, manchester United, Soccer

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana.

This following little screed is not written with the intent of parading Bob Bradley into a digital village square, walking him up the executioner's platform and lopping off his head.

Far from it.

Anyone that's been reading this site since his official hiring in 2007 know I've never been part of "Bradley's Bunch." At times, admittedly, we picked him apart for no other reason than the fact he wasn't a) German b) had blond hair c) played California adult men's rec soccer under the name Jay Göppingen.

Having said all that, Bradley probably did just about as good a job as anyone with the current cast of characters swirling around the USMNT.

On his resume Bradley will always have on the plus side of the ledger:

* The 2007 Gold Cup title.
* A runner-up spot at the 2009 Confederations Cup, including a historic win over Spain.
* Top of the CONCACAF hexagonal qualification.
* First American coach to win a World Cup group.
* Helped develop a "never-say-die" ethos in the U.S. camp.

For all the good, Bradley accrued, he still fell one round shy of his former boss -- Bruce Arena -- in the World Cup, when Ghana knocked out the U.S. Saturday in the Round of 16.

And with that, it's simply time for Bradley to go.

There's not a lot of vitriol or rage involved with the decision. It's simply the natural order of things in international soccer. Or as George Harrison once put it, "All Things Must Pass."

The USSF made the mistake once before, retaining Arena after the 2002 run to the quarterfinals for the 2006 World Cup. It's been said all over the place, too, that the only nations to keep their coaches from 2006 to 2010 were finalists Italy (Marcello Lippi, though he'd left post-06) and France (Crazy Ray Domenech).(*)

(*) Greece's Otto Rehhagel should be listed here too, since he was at his post from 2001 until the Greeks exit last week from Group B. ... What a larf? Here's young Otto.

Most Americans probably don't realize that the lifespan of an international soccer coach isn't very long. Well, more specifically the same guys -- think Bora Milutinović -- are recycled again and again under the "have whistle, will travel" philosophy, but these guys never stay in one place for very long. Or just look at Brazil's Mario Zagallo, who coached the team to the 1970 World Cup and later came back in 1994 and managed the Seleccao in France 1998.

Coaching a National Team isn't like coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers. If anything, in most nations it's like coaching the Washington Redskins under Daniel Synder.

What it comes down to with Bradley, the more-and-more you think about it as the euphoria from Landon Donovan's heroics wears off, this was probably as good a shot as the U.S. is ever going to get in a World Cup, or at least make a deep run.

Ghana, we understand is a good team. Uruguay aren't slouches.

Ask yourself, when is the U.S. going to get a clear cut path to a semifinal without facing one of the established powers -- Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Spain or the Netherlands -- ever again. The fact the tournament was in South Africa opened it up like we saw in Korea/Japan 2002.

In four years who can predict what where we'll all be headed into Brazil 2014?

For some perspective, how many guys on the 2002 World Cup team were in South Africa this month? ... Three -- Steve Cherundolo, Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley. Trying to predict where the U.S. will be in four years time is futile.

Better yet, go back four years. How many of you honestly knew the names: Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Benny Feilhaber, etc.? Meanwhile how many of us didn't have Freddy Adu penciled in for 2010?

As it stands, 2010 was probably as gilded at opportunity as the U.S. was ever going to get in the World Cup and Bradley whiffed. It's not all on the Ricardo Clark starting decision, naturally, but could we trust Bradley in a big spot four years from now?

Now is it Bradley's fault, per say, that the U.S. forward pool was about as deep as anything coming out of the brain of Audrina Patridge. Or is it all on Bradley's that the defense all of a sudden turned back into a pumpkin? That Oguchi Onyewu landed wrong blowing out his knee last October vs. Costa Rica and wasn't able to recover by June?

Can we wonder why Bradley seemed so committed to a straight 4-4-2 when this tournament has almost been a death knell for the tried-and-true formation? Will we wonder why Bradley seemed so afraid to play either Benny Feilhaber or Stuart Holden?

Yes on both counts.

The biggest question will loom how or why this team continued to leak early, preventable goals.

In the end, that's what doomed the U.S., since for all the positives it showed, the team only held the lead for about two minutes all tournament.

Like or not, you can't exactly fire the players, so the axe falls on the coach, rightly or wrongly.

Bradley got his fair shot and did the best with what he had. There's nothing for him to be ashamed of, either. He took this team as it currently stands as far as he could.

It's just time for a new approach, a new voice, a new set of ideas. Going back to war in four years with the same approach is going back to the two steps forward, three steps back approach. Screw up in 2014 and it's almost back to the drawing board time.

When his contract runs out, there's no need to fire Bradley.

A quiet, "Thanks Bob, you did a good job, you'll always be part of the U.S. Soccer family, but it's time for a new direction," will suffice.

For everything we've said and written about Bradley the last three-plus years, there's no need to drag his body through the streets or hang him by his ankles like a deposed dictator.

Remember, world soccer if a funny game. Who's to say Bradley won't be back in 2018 or 2022?

Who's next?

The easiest thing in the sports-talk radio/blog world we live in is to say fire the coach. It's a little harder to come up with a replacement. With Bradley's contract done in December, let him coach the August game at the Meadowlands vs. Brazil then make the change at the end of the year. The U.S. doesn't need a new coach this instant.

Right now, outside of Klinsmann there isn't an out-and-out, "we gotta get this guy" candidate.

I will admit I don't know who that is, though it sounds like a certain dapper dressing, bespectacled Italian might be available. Actually the ideal guy for the U.S. is six feet under the ground -- Brian Clough.

Laugh, sure but listen to be reasoning.

The U.S. is one of the weirdest, yet to the right person most attractive, jobs in world soccer.

Consider the facts:

* 300+ million people.
* A sporting nation, albeit not one with a soccer pedigree.
* Low pressure, non-oppressive media like, say, England, which might never ever win another tournament because of the weight of expectations heaped on them.
* The honest, hard-charging American work ethic, which leads to coachable players and smaller egos.
* The chance to achieve something most everyone thought was impossible, and with it soccer immortality by leading the U.S. to the promised land.

That last nugget is where the Clough part comes in. The U.S. needs, to some degree, a dreamer. Somebody that thinks big ... but also can comprehend what a unique nut soccer in America is to crack.

Part of the problem, though, instilling what it takes to make the leap from dogged underdog to cultured contenders starts at the youth level not at the National Team head coach.

And when you factor in that it's still a foreign idea in America for a 12-year-old kid to join a club's academy and train to become a professional, and many would-be coaches are probably turned off. There's only so much you can do as a coach to undo bad habits that seep in as result the high school and college system. Or more specifically the AYSO/Travel system that emphasizes winning trophies and tournaments more than improving technique.

On top of that, getting the nation's best athletes to focus on soccer, like most of the world, just might never happen with the easy millions on offer from the NFL, NBA and MLB. Whoever the next coach or coaches will be need to live with this fact.

Another turn-off toward coaching America is that you only get to prove yourself every four years. Maybe we all should put more stock in the Gold Cup and CONCACAF qualifiers(***), but the U.S. (and Mexico) have outgrown them. If only there were a way like Australia did, jumping out of Oceania to Asia, right?

(***) According to Grant Wahl, the U.S. won't be invited to the 2011 Copa America for sending out a C team in 2007. Can't blame CONMEBOL. The U.S. did at least win the Gold Cup that year, which got it into the Confederations Cup.

Plus every four years you're not only competing in the World Cup, but tangentially trying to prove soccer's worth in America.

Realistically, the U.S. is probably a few cycles from having enough top caliber and quality depth to make a challenge at winning the World Cup.

Finding the next guy won't be easy for Sunil Gulati, who was pretty blunt in his assessment of Bradley and the team as a whole.

He's got to find a guy that understands how U.S. soccer works, but can translate how the rest of the world works to U.S. soccer. It's about 17 different hurricanes all swirling into each other.

Good luck.

Mueller ... Mueller:

I tweeted about this a bit yesterday during Germany's 4-1 evisceration of England.

Isn't it incredible that Thomas Mueller is a mere 20 years old and has already played in a Champions League final and scored a brace in the World Cup knockout rounds?

Wasn't a certain somebody on the U.S. 20 years old, starting at the World Cup.

Not to hammer Jozy Alidore but it rises an interesting dynamic.

Do we want all the young talent in America hellbent on moving to Europe, struggling to find playing time, bouncing around in mid-tier leagues or on the bench of the Premier League? Or does it make sense for guys to get playing time and nurturing in MLS, where the standard of play isn't unbelievable, but better than skeptics give it credit for?

To me, it makes more sense to do like Joseph-Claude Gyau and Charles Renken did, signing with TSG Hoffenheim at 15 and 16 years old. Get seasoning with a club in its youth academy and reserves. There's less pressure, first off, and the development is organic. The club is investing in the player at an earlier age and is more willing to give time for an eventual pay off.

Will these two specifically turn into stars? Who knows. They're just names, like every other projected, unproven, would-be player for 2014.

As we've seen with Altidore and Adu, going to Europe and wasting your formative years on the bench just isn't going to work. The world is littered with players who never fulfilled their potential, withering away on the bench.

There's no perfect system, though. Look at Eddie Johnson, who was a hot property in 2005, elected to say in MLS and never really blossomed when Fulham signed him a few years later.

It's amazing, isn't it. After 2006 the only talk was how everyone on the U.S. had to go overseas to Europe to improve, especially Donovan.

In the wake of 2010, we saw the best players on the field for the U.S. -- Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and Michael Bradley -- all spending plenty of time cutting their teeth in MLS.

Just like everything when you start talking U.S. soccer, there isn't a magic bullet.

In the long run, what it may end up taking is an eight year old kid who was home on summer vacation watching today's Netherland's 2-1 win over Slovakia getting inspired by the skill and class of Arjen Robben's opening goal -- making three Slovak defenders look stupid -- and wanting to one day do that himself. Or to be able to drop a 60-yard pinpoint pass like Wesley Sneijder, which set up the goal. You know kids in Holland saw that play and probably ran out to the streets of Rotterdam or nearest field in Utrecht to practice.

Better yet, as Dan from "The Free Beer Movement" corrected me on Twitter.

We need that kid to run out and want to be the next Landon Donovan.

Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, Soccer, USMNT

Silver linings?

Justifications?

Frustrations?

Deja vus?

There were so many sides of the picture swirling around in the wake of Ghana knocking the U.S. out of the 2010 World Cup Saturday in Rustenburg, 2-1 a.e.t., in the Round of 16 to I certainly needed some time to let everything soak in and try to grasp what exactly just happened.

I tried to take my mind off of things with a couple episodes from the first season of "The Sopranos."(*) There was no need to take solace in the endless string of recaps trying to make sense of it all. Nor would knee jerk reactions on Twitter lead to anything other than piling onto the frustration and despair. No need to read columnists debating the pointless argument of soccer's status in America.

(*) If anyone knows modern day Strum und Drang it might be David Chase.

The question my mind kept coming back to was ... why?

Why would Bob Bradley open himself up to such second guessing by starting Ricardo Clark? It was like Bradley was a contestant on "Jeopardy" catching fire, going through the categories with ease and then whiffing on the bet for Final Jeopardy.

It's not so much that Bradley went back to one of "Bob's Guys" in Clark. What kills me is Bradley had already made the most difficult decision of the 2010 Cup in the Algeria match, sitting down Oguchi Onyewu and rolling the dice with Internet whipping boy Jonathan Bornstein.

Clark had already drawn heat for allowing Steven Gerrard to run by him in the Group C opener vs. England two weeks prior. Bradley had turned to Jose Torres and then Maurice Edu.

Why would he go back?

And this isn't to say Clark's giveaway at midfield, which led to Kevin-Prince Boateng's fifth minute goal was the sole reason the U.S. lost.(**) Who's to say Edu or whomever wouldn't have fallen victim to a similar mistake? Sports aren't played by robots ... yet.

(**) The soccer gods have a sick sense of humor. A U.S. midfielder disposed in the World Cup paving the way for a Ghana goal. It didn't end there, as Clark, like Claudio Reyna four years earlier, left before the end of the first half. Simply cruel. If the U.S. ever meets Ghana in the World Cup again I'm moving to Antarctica.

The fact the mistake happened to Clark -- twice -- in the same Cup, each time within five minutes of the opening simply doesn't look good. There's really no way to defend the decision.

Where the problem lies, is now there is a direct line of questioning for people to cast a leery eye at Bradley or the rest of U.S. soccer the next four years.

Why?

It's going to cast a pall over the previous two weeks of goodwill.

The shame of it was that Bradley had built up a fairly bulletproof Cup resume up until that moment -- pulling Clark off to avoid the ex-Dynamo midfielder from getting a second yellow card in the first half -- only compounded matters. Why would he expose himself to a classic second guess?

Don't forget, Bradley had never won over the hearts and minds of U.S. fans, who went as far as to create a fake Twitter name in his honor, making fun of his sideline attire. (Coach Sweats.) During the Cup even the most ardent Bradley-bashers had run low on material.

Now, it's simple to look at the U.S. losing to Ghana and point to Bradley's decision to start Clark over Edu, when we all know it's not that simple.

To wit, the U.S. went through it's second consecutive World Cup without a true "forward/striker" scoring a goal.

The patchwork defense, which had all our sphincters tied in collective knots ahead of the Cup, finally put the U.S. in a hole it couldn't climb out and recover from.

Most maddening, the U.S. yet again fell behind in a World Cup match -- an unexplainable conundrum almost on par with what the island from "Lost" actually was.

Just baffling. Both in the fact it kept happening and the U.S. players and coaching couldn't adequately explain why or rectify the situation.

Amazingly, my brother Pete -- no sports fan -- picked me up to go to watch the match at a friend's house. All he said was, "I just hope they don't give up another early goal."

It was almost surreal to see within about 10 minutes of actual World Cup game time, to see Landon Donovan set off an unprecedented wave of American goodwill toward the National Team with his "Go Go USA" goal in the 91st minute Wednesday vs. Algeria only to see the game against Ghana begin with Boateng's cruel dose of neck tattooed, Berlin ghetto-born, reality.

But that's U.S. soccer, I suppose.

Donovan emerged as a candidate for the All World Cup team. Clint Dempsey once again proved he's an accomplished international goal-scorer, who lays his body on the line every 90 minutes. Michael Bradley (more later) is a cornerstone for the future. Tim Howard, a hero vs. England, couldn't pull out a miracle save when the U.S. needed.

Those were the four best U.S. players and they all had World Cups to be proud about. Their heroic efforts could only carry the rest of the squad so far, regardless of how much game tape the Elder could cram into his brain.

The rest?

A mixed bag.

Most perplexing is certainly Jozy Altidore. On the one hand you want him to bury chances, take over games and be a general force of nature on the field. Then you realize he's only 20 and scored just once in the Premier League last season at Hull City. Jozy will need to keep producing, that's the long and short of it. It's unfair to start lumping him in with Eddie Johnson, but Altidore doesn't get a lifetime free pass even if he's one of the only media/Madison Avenue friendly USMNT players, which tends to give him the benefit of the doubt.

When you boil it down, a nation the size of the U.S. probably shouldn't need to pin it's World Cup hopes on a 20-year-old.

More immediately concerning is state of the U.S. defense. Captain Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo will be 35 come 2014. Jay DeMerit, 34. Even Oguchi Onyewu and Clarence Goodson will be 32.

There's not much in the pipeline, with a string of Michael Parkhurst and Marvell Wynne types, while a certain someone lines up for Serbia.

More than that, did we ever think we'd live in a world where the only U.S. defender we can appreciatively count on going forward to Brazil is Jonathan Bornstein, who'll be 29 in 2014?

Cue the Zinedine Zidane voice ... "the irony."

Take a moment if you need it.

If you need another, go right ahead. We've got four years.

And that's the biggest shame of it. We can take plenty of positives from the U.S.'s time in South Africa. When the immediacy of the loss to Ghana eases, we'll all probably have good memories, topped off by Donovan's transcendent goal vs. Algeria. (Aided, of course, by Ian Darke's pantheon call.)

At the same time, the team had as clear a path as its ever going to get in the World Cup and couldn't get the job done vs. Ghana, falling victim to the same type of mental mistakes which have plagued this team over the past decade.

Will it be a good thing the U.S. likely won over plenty of new hearts and minds these last two weeks in June? Time will tell.

So long as these newcomers file away the pain they felt around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and the empty feeling Sunday morning and remember it in four years when Brazil rolls around, it'll be a building block. It'll make whenever the U.S. finally does breakthrough feel all that much sweeter.(***)

(***) This is why I hate the Florida Marlins more than any other baseball team. They have basically no fans, no history and continually sell off their best players. Yet they've won two World Series in the past 15 years while diehard fans in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Los Angeles and elsewhere continue to struggle.

Winning the World Cup isn't easy, nor is it given to you -- unless you're Italy in 1934 with Benito Mussolini pulling the strings. Don't forget, only seven nations have won the thing with just 11 overall even making the final. You aren't "destined" to win the World Cup because of a string of inspired YouTube reaction videos to Donovan's goal.

The World Cup remains a true sports meritocracy.

Nothing is handed to you -- regardless of the ineptitude of the refs -- the cream ends up rising to the top. Penalty kicks weed it out and provide upsets, but usually the better teams make it through, even if sometimes there's nothing more than an eyelash or the bounce of the ball separating two contenders. That's why it retains it's status as the most important trophy in all of sports, too.

Where the real pain lies for the U.S. and its fans are in those long, seemingly impossible to conceive four years ahead of us, especially when the chance for the U.S. to do something special was so so close that we could taste the salt coming from Diego Forlan's tears.

What other soccer fans around the globe don't realize is that unlike the European teams, who start Euro 2012 qualification next year or the South Americans who get the Copa America or even the Africans who have the biannual Cup of Nations, the U.S. has to wait a long time for some meaningless matches, no disrespect to the Gold Cup, but we all know it's not the same. The only way for the U.S. to prove it belongs on the fringes of the elite is the World Cup. Waiting four years, then watching the tournament end in the blink of an eye is part of what sets the World Cup aside from everything else.

So yeah, the fact that in a matter of hours (from this writing) either England or Germany; or Mexico or Argentina will join the U.S. on the way out of the 2010 tournament. It's nice company to keep, but it's not like the U.S. has the track records of those nations. It doesn't mask over the fact the U.S. had a chance, but maybe ran out of gas after four grueling, high incident matches.

And if we boil it all down, the U.S. at the 2010 World Cup did a lot to establish goodwill in America. Fans all across the globe will respect it's grit, determination, heart and never say die attitude. Casual American fans leery of soccer finally have a positive memory about the World Cup and old media types can't deny nobody in the States cares about soccer.

People had fun following this "cardiac kids" type team and rooting for the one of the few American teams you can truly consider an underdog -- a team that shook off not one, but two perfectly good goals disallowed by the refs. Don't discount this, people were having fun during at their desks at noon. The American public was starting to realize why the world shuts down during the month-long World Cup.

Yet for all the gains and traction made by the USMNT off the field, the team on it still remains a few talent cycles away from being real contenders. The rah-rah attitude, while admirable, can only take you so far. The magic in the feet of Donovan can only conjure something from his bag of tricks so many times.

Thanks for the memories, it was two weeks of thrilling soccer. Yet that lingering "what if" will probably cloud over everything the U.S. achieved. It felt like the team could have done so much more if it didn't consistently shoot itself in the foot with the same mistakes.

The U.S. didn't embarrass itself like in 2006 or 1998, but with the 2010 World Cup marked by the early exits of power soccer nations, this feels like an unfinished novel with the Third Act lost somewhere across the sea.

A minute on Ghana:

Maybe I didn't put too much stock into it, but Ghana certainly played with the pep in its step of a team which had the hopes of an entire continent on its back. That's not the only reason the Black Stars won, but it couldn't hurt.

Obviously any team that scores in the first five minutes is going to look good, but Ghana had a good game plan that utilized its team speed and defensive organization.

Don't discount the fact, either, that Ghana had a run to the African Cup of Nations final less than six months ago, with essentially this entire squad intact. The mere fact this team had that much more cohesion, practice time, etc. than most other World Cup teams certainly showed Saturday.

And Ghana got some good fortune, too. The Black Stars lost Michael Essien, but gained Boateng who played admirably as a soup-kitchen version of the Chelsea star. It's unusual, right, that a European team -- in this case Germany -- loses a would-be player to an African country.

It's crushing, too, that Asamoah Gyan runs down a long ball from the back and hits a picture perfect volley through the defense of Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit. It was something Altidore and Findley, et al couldn't do all tournament.

Ghana was a good side. The assumption the U.S. could step on the field and cruise by them is silly. Yeah, Ghana wasn't Germany, Brazil, Argentina, etc. but the Black Stars were good, organized and had a sting in the tail with Gyan.

And for anyone to assume the U.S. would stroll through Ghana then brush aside a gritty Uruguay team hasn't watched enough international soccer, frankly. Winnable games, yes, but no automatic locks.

The worst part about losing to Ghana -- again -- is that the Black Stars couldn't handle Egypt in the 2010 African Cup of Nations final, yet the U.S. handled Egypt at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

No more diapers:

The nickname Baby Bradley is officially retired.

Michael Bradley had a World Cup to remember, but let's collectively hope its the start of two or three more standout showings on the world's stage.

Going forward, Bradley needs to be the fulcrum of this team. As my friend Mike put it, he could be our Michael Ballack, albeit much less East German ... and less hateable.

In four years time -- I'll assume the U.S. navigates CONCACAF qualification -- whomever is the coach of the U.S. has to build around Bradley. Donovan and Dempsey will be four years old. Alitdore has proven to be an enigma.

Bradley looks like the real deal. A midfield engine, who says Roy Keane is his inspiration.

Bradley is much more than Keane, a classic midfield hardman. Bradley is at his best darting forward, adding to the attack. A tireless midfield beast, with an improving first touch. We need to start thinking of him in more of an attack mode, or box-to-box than a straight holding role. Why waste his energy and legs breaking up attacks, when he's just as apt finishing them off?

What's best about Bradley is he's done it the right way. Started in MLS, moved to Holland, scooped up by a mid-tier Bundesliga team and poised for a move to a glamor European league. He's a proven commodity and won't sit the bench after someone (Arsene Wenger) snaps him up after the Cup.

Like Obi Wan Kenobi, Bradley going forward, is our collective best hope.

This and That:

* It's easy to kill MLS in wake of the unproducitvity of Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle and especially Robbie Findley. Remember, the U.S. lineup to start Saturday had nine of the 11 players with MLS experience. Only Cherundolo and DeMerit hadn't played in MLS. Substitute Bennie Feilhaber also hasn't played in the league.

* It's minimal solace, but the U.S. did finish ahead of England in Group C.

* No disrespect because they're a good side, but if South Korea had beaten Uruguay earlier Saturday, this loss hurts even more. The U.S. would have been a clear favorite to make the semifinals paired with Ji Sung Park and the boys. South Korea is much more beateable on paper, at least, than Uruguay.

* Cue the Zidane voice again ... the irony that the U.S.'s lost its one normal advantage -- goalkeeping. Tim Howard couldn't dig down and make another set of heroic saves, blocking away either Boateng or Gyan's efforts. Meanwhile Richard Kingson was absolutely immense for Ghana.

* Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger watched this game. 'Nuff said.

* Don't really have anything to say if Bradley the Elder should be retained as coach. Both arguments have plenty of fuel right now. One thought on Jurgen Klinsmann, though. His whole talk during the World Cup on ESPN is "mentality." Perhaps now, after a bitter exit there are enough players in the U.S. camp who will be driven the next four years to rectify Saturday's heartbreak. Perhaps Klinsmann is the man to channel those thoughts into a world class team.

* Okay, one thought on Bradley. Despite his cool, stoic veneer, he did the best with what he had. Is it indictment on Bradley that his pool of forwards was Gomez, Buddle, Findley, Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson?

Is it Bradley's fault the team kept leaking early goals? I don't know, and neither does he.

* One thing the U.S. truly needs, at a youth level especially, is developing players who know how to play center back from a positional, mental standpoint. Far too often at the youth level coaches probably stick the tallest kid in the back of defense, or play a sweeper/stopper combination. Remember, Fabio Cannavaro was 5-foot-9 when he was the World Cup's most outstanding player in 2006. Elite, cultured defenders make building the rest of the squad so much easier.

Closing thought:

The way in which the U.S. went out to Ghana is supremely disconcerting.

In the long run, this tournament did make it possible, though, that come 2014 you wouldn't be laughed out of a bar anywhere on the globe suggesting the U.S. as a darkhorse Cup contender.

Then again, a lot can happen in four years.

Who would have thought four years ago when we were breaking down, gnashing our teeth and despairing over a loss to Ghana in Germany that Charlie Davies would have emerged as a viable standout striker. On top of that, who would even imagined perhaps the American's biggest cause for optimism in 2010 would see his World Cup end before it started with a horrific, life-threatening car crash.

With the World Cup, you just don't know. Four years is a long time.

And all I know as I write this Sunday morning I'm feeling empty -- it's hard to here the ESPN African intro music and not feel a little dead inside. Maybe that's a good thing in the long run, but it won't make it so the U.S. plays Uruguay on Friday. A few more days on this magic carpet ride would have been nice.

There's nothing for the U.S. to be ashamed about for its 2010 performance, yet we'll be wondering the next four years if they left something -- perhaps historic -- on the table.

* * *

More on the World Cup and where America goes from here in the coming days. There's plenty to still chew on.

Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, ghana, jonathan bornstein, kevin-prince boateng, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Soccer, tim howard, USMNT

Apologies up front if the tenor of my post-U.S./Algeria writing sounded a little too Jack Edwards 2002 World Cup-y. It was such a confluence of events, capped off by an iconic finish by Landon Donovan that rhyme and reason tend to go out the window.

It's not like the U.S. gets moments like that everyday on the soccer field.

Lost in the jubilation of Wednesday's buzzer beater is that the U.S. have another game to play, like you know, three days later. Better be sure there aren't any lingering hangovers from sipping Buds in the Loftus Versfeld locker room with President Clinton.

No problem with the U.S. taking victory laps and bows. The gritty, gutty display the U.S. have displayed in South Africa has indeed been endearing and a nice contrast to the common stereotype of flopping, nancy-pancy soccer players.(*)

(*) Slovakia's Zdeno Štrba single-handily killed that perception, remaining in the match against Italy Thursday with a sickening deep cut on his thigh. He waved off the sub. R-U-G-G-E-D.

Right now the USMNT is sitting in a rather precarious position.

Newcomers on the bandwagon probably aren't aware that the U.S. doesn't exactly thrive with success or when expectations and heaped upon them. This team's recent trademark, after all, is playing the nobody believes in us card.

Except now in the wake of winning Group C and gaining a date with Ghana followed by (perhaps) either Uruguay/South Korea in the quarterfinals, some are projecting the U.S. to make a deep, deep run into the Cup(**). All these expectations for a team that gave up a fourth minute goal against England in the first group match and was three minutes away from elimination against Algeria.

(**) Not too outlandish. The U.S. is if were a club team would be a much better Cup team than over the course of the league season -- good enough to beat anyone on a given night, not consistent enough to lodge results over 10 months. Remember, too, this World Cup has unfurled like an upset-heavy March Madness.

But that is U.S. soccer in 2010.

In a way the U.S. is coming off the euphoria of something major -- think a club like Blackpool winning improbable promotion to the Premier League -- once the euphoria fades away you're left scratching your head Jimmy McNulty-style, "What the f--- do I just do?"

Better yet, think of the U.S. right now in the same situation as a band after a stellar debut or breakthrough album. Remember the used CD bin at the local record store(***) being littered with 99 cent copies of albums like "Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots. Or take the band Bloc Party, which looked destined for big things with catchy, jangly pop songs like the FIFA-riffic "Helicopter" on the album "Silent Alarm", then came "A Weekend In the City" and ... irrelevance.

(***) Kids, once upon a time, we had to get in our cars or walk to an actual store to acquire new music, or find a friend with a good mixtape hookup. ... Oof. Why not just say I rode a dinosaur to school while I'm at it?

The second act in the music business isn't easy. Just go ask the Killers. Better yet, go ask The Stone Roses, who's self-titled debut is lauded as one of Britain's best -- no hyperbole either, that album is insanely good. Their second effort? Stuck in legal/production hell, might as well never even happened.

Even Wu-Tang Clan followed up "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" with the bloated two-disc mess of "Wu-Tang Forever", although not as bloated as Guns 'N Roses "Uses Your Illusion I/II."

Casual U.S. sports fans, on the heels of Wednesday's major moment, want another hit. They might not have the attention span for a flat, off-key elimination. At least, barring a flat, listless defeat the U.S. are probably past the Dana Patrick-type curiosity/pre-fab hype machine barrier. Hardcore fans, on the other hand, realize that there are no givens in the World Cup knockout rounds.

So perhaps if the U.S. is going to emulate anyone ahead of the Ghana match, why not take their cues from Radiohead, which eschewed the follow-up slump, twice.

After lying dormant after the success of the single "Creep" in 1993, Thom Yorke and the boys released the anthem-o-riffic "The Bends" two years later. Then, after the mega-success and blinding critical masturbation over "OK Computer," the band came back with "Kid A," which established a different kind of tone for the band all together, moving them out them even out of the "rock" classification.

Now I'm not saying Donovan needs to develop a lazy eye or that Clint Dempsey needs to bring a Moog-type synthesizer to look downward and stare at on the grass of the Royal Bafokeng like Jonny Greenwood.

The bottom line is that while the late drama over Algeria gave American fans a touchstone World Cup moment, the tournament -- realistically -- is just getting started. Yet there is work left to be done. Don't forget, this was dubbed Group E.A.S.Y. and everyone pretty much assumed the U.S. would get to the place where they are right now.

The U.S. team can't get complacent, or rest of the laurels of what happened in Pretoria. It might be projecting, but much like in the 2002 run to the quarterfinals, the tournament is opening up. The U.S. won't see another "power" team until the semifinals, likely Brazil or the Netherlands.

However it plays out, a rare heroes welcome ... and subsequent talk show visit tour awaits the U.S. on their return.

Don't think any talent bookers, though, would mind if those late-night yuk-fest and early morning gab-fest(****) with Donovan, Jozy Altidore, etc. come a few weeks later in mid-July.

The U.S. would certainly a have a few more "hits" under their belt by then.

(****)Up next on 'The View' Landon Donovan talks break-up, to highlight or not to highlight and puppies!

Ghana-o-rama ... again:

Do the names Haminu Draman or Marcus Merk or Razak Pimpong mean anything to you?

Do you remember the international career of Claudio Reyna coming to an abrupt halt?

Then yeah, you're well aware with the utterly awful U.S. 2-1 loss to Ghana in the final Group E match at the 2006 World Cup, a loss that at least produced Clint Dempsey's first World Cup goal.

No need to re-open those wounds, right?

Without Michael Essien in the midfield the 2010 version of the Black Stars certainly look different. The grizzly bear burliness of Berlin-born madman Kevin-Prince Boateng makes sure of that.

For whatever the reason, the U.S. might have fared better against Germany than Ghana. Crazy, but hear me out.

Germany is Germany. The U.S. knows this. Germany knows this. The U.S. have the ability to frustrate and play to the level of better competition. The longer the U.S. (potentially) kept the Germans at bay, the better the match becomes. Self doubt begins to creep into the minds of Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil -- players who are pumped up by the media and sponsors and expected to become match-winners.

If the U.S. had played Germany, it's a lot easier to predict what the Germans would attempt and how to stop and counter it. Then again, the Germans do have winning in their DNA, which might cancel out anything else.

Yes the Germans are much better technically than Ghana. If the Germans play their game, yes, they could've beaten the U.S. 3-0. From what we've seen recently, the U.S. does better in these matches against traditional powers. It brings out the best in them.

Ghana? There's a lot more of the unknown.

Think of taking a long car trip and you need to pull over to eat. You could go the McDonald's route, you know what you're getting. Or you could take the local greasy spoon, which could serve the world's greatest hot dog, or you could end up with food poisoning.

You just don't know.

That's Ghana, where there's a lot more potential of some seemingly random Black Stars player to pop up from nowhere and knockout the U.S. (Remember, the bigger "name" players on the roster -- Sulley Muntari and Stephen Appiah -- barely play.)

During the World Cup Bob Bradley has been an excellent game-planner. A team like Ghana presents a challenge in the fact the Black Stars approach is fairly simply and straight forward, they're strong across the field until you get to loan striker Asamoah Gyan -- a hit or miss type who seems to need a lot of chances -- supported by pacey players like Kwadwo Asamoah, André Ayew and Prince Tagoe.

What it boils down to, Ghana doesn't have the club stars of say and England or Germany. What the Black Stars have is a very competent team managed Milovan Rajevac that knows how to play together, know it's strengths and limitations. The fact they made the 2010 African Cup of Nations final provides some tournament toughness. They know what it takes to win in tournament football. Going for 120 minutes with pressure on them shouldn't be an issue.

The U.S. aren't beating Ghana through a psychological approach -- the fact the Black Stars are playing for all of Africa shouldn't be an in-game issue. Nor do I think Bradley can use a Belichick-like tactical approach like he did to bottle up England, where he took away the Three Lions No. 1 gun -- Wayne Rooney -- and watched the rest of the squad fall. Ghana is a team, much less reliant on one player to perform in order to succeed.

No tricks, nothing fancy.

The U.S. has to play well, cut off mistakes and simply get a win by any means necessary.

Other stuff:

* Kevin-Prince Boateng vs. Michael Bradley figures to be heavyweight midfield battle of epic proportions. The undercard of Anthony Annan and (assumingly) Maurice Edu shouldn't be too shabby either.

* Not to jinx anything, but if this goes 120 deadlocked, you've got to favor Tim Howard over Richard Kingson. Then again, penalty kicks are fickle mistresses.

* Kingson might be the Black Stars weak link. U.S. should do whatever they can test him early and often.

* Ghana could possibly line up with a starting central defense of John Mensah and Jonathan Mensah.

* Ghana, and perhaps all of FIFA, seem to have pretty lax standards for what players can use for their names on jerseys. Jonathan Mensah is simply "Jonathan" where KP-Boateng, is now just "Prince." If I ever made it, I'd like "El Duderino" in script lettering, thank you very much.

* It's a topic of conversation, but will the fact Ghana is the only African team to advance going to make that big a difference in Rustenburg, which seems to have become the Americans home away from home between this World Cup and the Confederations Cup? Can't see the crowd being a factor at this stage, especially in a stadium with a running track.

* Both Ghana World Cup goals have come from penalty kicks, which either means they're a) lucky b) can't score or c) due for a goal in the run of play.

* Perhaps Ghana's Amsterdam-born winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie could call and give Freddy Adu a pep talk. Quincy was at Arsenal from 2003-06, only playing five times for the Gunners. He eventually left for Spartak Moscow, which proceeded to loan him out four times, including to Portsmouth last year. He's now signed up for Al-Sadd in Qatar. Oh right, he's still only 23.

* Your match official is Hungarian Viktor Kassai. If the U.S. has another good goal waved off, I might even be done with the World Cup.

* Big thing to watch is how Bradley the Elder handles substitutions over a possibly 120 minutes. Wonder how fit the U.S. is in the wake of the Algeria game. A three day turnaround does leave a lot of time to recharge the batteries. Hope the team isn't in line for an emotional letdown.

* Two thoughts from the seemingly endless slew of U.S. fan reactions to the Donovan goal 1) They weren't sausage parties. There were actually women in a lot of the videos, which is always nice to see. 2) Who exactly was filming these, especially the time lapse cameras? Nobody could have predicted that moment. Not complaining, just seems odd people would film themselves in this situation.

* Can't see either side sitting back in this one. Figures to be point, counter-point for 90 minutes. Ghana vs. Germany was very open. This game might boil down to finishing. Both teams haven't been all that sharp in the final third. Kwadwo Asamoah had a couple long-range rocket attempts vs. Australia. Another week with the Jabulani and maybe he gets the targeting down.

* Unrelated, but due to ESPN's non-stop pimping of the movie "Knight & Day" I've taken all the Muse off of my iPod as a sign of protest. My Lou Gehrig non-movie streak isn't ending there. "Predators"? Maybe.

* Always fun to go back int your archives. This is the first thing I wrote about the USMNT back in January. Take it with a grain of salt.

Lineup guess:

GK -- Howard

DEF -- Cherundolo -- Bocanegra -- DeMerit -- Bornstein (gulp)

MID -- Dempsey -- Bradley -- Edu -- Donovan

FOR -- Altidore -- Findley

Explanation: Guess Bradley could go back to Oguchi Onyewu, but why risk it. For whatever the reason, Bocanegra seems more at ease with the U.S. playing in the middle. Bradley made the tough decision to sit Onyewu, don't second guess it. ... Since neither Herculez Gomez or Edson Buddle produced vs. Algeria, figure Findley is back for the speed option at the top to pair with Altidore.

Final thought:

Ian Darke is behind the mic for Saturday. Would you believe it if I told you he was behind the mic when the U.S. stunned Portugal 3-2 in the 2002 World Cup? Here's the video evidence.



That's as good an omen as I can find.

Go Go U.S.A. 1, Ghana 0

Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, ghana, Landon Donovan, Soccer, USMNT

"This time tomorrow where will we be/On a spaceship somewhere sailing across an empty sea/This time tomorrow what will we know/Well we still be here watching an in-flight movie show." -- The Kinks, "This Time Tomorrow."

From time-to-time on this here little slice of Inter-nets, I've casually mentioned my father -- Pops Cardillo -- a man who's watched more MLS than 99.9 percent of the world's total population.

If it weren't for my dad there's no way this blog exists in its current form.

My father's been a soccer-lifer, first serving as a ball boy when my grandfather managed the Stamford Italians in an old ethically-driven Connecticut soccer league back in early 1960s. Eventually right around 1986 he began coaching our elementary school town youth team.

During Italia 1990 my father brought the team over to watch a grainy VHS copy of, I think, the final between West Germany and Argentina -- not exactly the most fondly recalled match of all time. But hey, back then it wasn't like we had Fox Soccer Channell, GolTV or even ESPN showing highlights on "Sportscenter."

Eventually in the build up to the 1994 World Cup my father and I started watching whatever U.S. games were on -- many times on Univision. Until the start of MLS in 1996 the U.S. international matches were about the only thing American television programmers deemed fit to grace their airwaves. Remember Ty Keough and Seamus Malin -- who never said one positive thing about the USMNT?

So when the U.S. was poised to play the most important World Cup game since the 2002 quarterfinal Wednesday morning against Algeria, the choice was fairly obvious. Instead of going to a bar or someplace else, I'd have to the action from Pretoria alongside my Pops in the comfort of my condo's living room.

As the game unfolded, not sure what was more entertaining? The match itself or my father's reactions?

My dad is usually fairly mild-mannered. He keeps his emotions fairly in check, or at least bottled up for the most part. Reserved might be the best way to describe him.

For the 90 minutes of tension, he was pounding his fists into the arms of my recliner. Jumping up and screaming. Sitting on the floor. Pacing. Near tears in his eyes for much of the second half.

You know, the kind of emotions a baseball fan experiences during a tense playoff game. How college basketball fans feel in the closing seconds of an NCAA tournament game. The kind of games in any sport that sour the stomach sour and the knees into jelly.

Those 90 minutes, especially the final 45 alternately felt like an eternity and a blink of an eye.

And judging by the reaction from sea to shining sea, my father wasn't the only one in America who experienced the agony and the ecstasy unfurling in Pretoria Wednesday morning. That, friends, is the World Cup in a nutshell. It might not be the world's greatest or most exciting soccer, but every 90 minutes here on out produce the kind of drama and excitement that make watching sports a quasi-religious experience.

It's not so much about missed chances, 4-4-2s, counter attacks and what have you.

It's about jumping three feet off the ground. It's about screaming with the unabashed joy of a five-year-old. It's about hugging a complete stranger with the embrace of your soul mate.

That's the World Cup.

Do you think whenever they show those mass video screens set up in the streets of Europe that everyone watching is a die-hard soccer fan? Of course not. They're there for the rare chance to experience a collective group joy with your countrymen.

Think about it. How much time in 2010 do we spend isolated, alone behind computer screens or tapping away the most meaningless thoughts into our cell phones for the entire world to read (or ignore). For one month every four years the World Cup gives everyone on the planet or in a nation a common ground, a common interest.

These might seem like hoary old cliches, but they're the truth, too.

In the haste of the American's last gasp, heart pounding 1-0 victory, my mind was too busy to write a full post.

The only thing that sprung to mind was that June 23, 2010 might finally have been the day Americans learned why the rest of the world love and embraces soccer. A fact that seemed to be confirmed by the seemingly endless strings of celebration videos quickly uploaded, which summarize the feeling far better than my kindergarten-level sentences could.



In the big picture, is Donovan's goal going to push soccer to become the No. 1 sport in America? Is it going to fill MLS stadiums across the nation?

Probably not.

What it did, though, was establish the World Cup as a sport the casual American sports fan could embrace and enjoy without the fear of mockery, you know, the whole "soccer is boring" joke.

Think about it. ESPN pumped so much money into hyping up the tournament that people have indeed been watching. (Wednesday's match was the highest a.m. rating ESPN ever posted.)

If the U.S. had gone out after failing to defeat Algeria after a pair of perfectly good goals were waved off by the refs in back-to-back matches? The skeptics and old guard soccer haters would have had a field day. They wouldn't be too far off base either. Why care or pay attention to a sport that can't officiate itself properly?

Think those would-be fans would be back again in four years? That's a long time to reinforce the idea that "soccer sucks."

Flash forward to 2014 and the same old doubts about the U.S. team would once again creep into the conversation. This team is no good. They can't beat the best. They're boring. Etc.

Now, with Donovan's moment of 91st minute magic the American general soccer audience have their bellwether moment. A moment to look back on and get goosebumps whenever the World Cup highlight packages show Donovan's cool, calm finish, slide across the pitch and subsequent American pig pile.

Better yet, one of those moments you'll always remember where you were when it happened. The pure, unbridled joy.

You could argue that beating Portugal 3-2 in the 2002 World Cup opener or topping Mexico 2-0 in the 2002 knockout round were bigger, more important games. The win last summer against Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinals went further in proving that the Yanks could hang with the world's best.

Those matches indeed will forever hold warm spots in the memories of the pure, hardcore American soccerhead. There's no denying that beating Spain -- snapping their massive 30+ game unbeaten streak in the process -- was a better achievement that needing a stoppage time goal to handle Algeria 1-0 in the World Cup group stage.

For years the casual American fan didn't have anything positive to remember the U.S. National Team by, just disappointment and unrealized hype. The casual fan wasn't up in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to watch the magic of a young Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, John O'Brien and Clint Mathis in 2002. They weren't there for the Confederations Cup, a tournament that pales in significance to the World Cup.

The U.S. finally had its collective World Cup tipping point moment Wednesday. When I went out for coffee Thursday morning Donovan's smiling mug was on the front page -- A1 -- over every newspaper on the rack.

Not even the crankiest of cranky old media type could deny the World Cup doesn't mean anything to Americans after June 23, 2010.

Leftovers:

* One more thought from my Dad. We used to watch a ton of UConn basketball games together. Until 1999 the Huskies were always bounced from the NCAA tournament before the Final Four. We'd always be disappointed and left feeling empty. My father's usual refrain was, "Well, I just wish we had one more game to look forward to."

When you boil it down, the U.S. win vs. Algeria gives American fans one more game to forward to, Saturday afternoon vs. Ghana in what is sure to be the most-watched soccer game ever in the States. Even casual eyeballs are going to be locked in around 2:30. You don't need to know much about soccer either, all people are going to see is an American team in a knockout game of a tournament.

* In retrospect, I guess I can see why Algeria penned in so deep and played for the counterattack. The only way they were going to score was if the U.S. pulled too forward and got stretched out.

* Once again, we watched the U.S. soccer mentality DNA building blocks continue to forms chains right before our eyes. The U.S. may never win easy or have the most technically gifted players.

There is something to be said about the eight or nine goals they've scored after the 80th minute in this World Cup cycle. Many teams around the globe simply give up. They just expect to lose at that point.

The never say die attitude on the soccer field? Quintessentially American.

* Lost in the shuffle, late in the match Algeria had broken down with numbers on the U.S. goal in the final ten minutes. Carlos Bocanegra made a full-extension lunge to tip it out for a corner.

* On the term of unlikely developments, where does Bill Clinton becoming a soccer fan rank? Somewhere next to Betty White becoming the go-to comedy star of 2010?

* How great was Ian Darke all game? Soothing, calm, knowledgeable. And the moment of the Donovan goal? "Go Go USA"? Perfect. I think Martin Tyler would have undersold it, while JP would have talked over it. Darke is a revelation.

* One thing, if people still don't care about soccer or the World Cup after Donovan's goal. That's quite all right. Got to. This is America, man.

All I've ever really wanted from a soccer in American standpoint is the media to cover it with respect and accurately. There are obviously fans out there, the days of getting an easy punchline on soccer should be over.

* More on U.S. v. Ghana from a tactical, soccer fan standpoint on Friday. In fairness, the Xs and Os of Wednesday's day got blurred by the crazy ending. Maybe a touch of hyperbole, but there's no denying that was a yuge moment. Biggest development is how much these guys have left for Saturday, emotionally and physically.

* One final thought, a team like Ghana scares me to death.

Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, Landon Donovan, Soccer, USMNT

June 23, 2010.

United States 1, Algeria 0.

To borrow a phrase from commenter "macarthur31" -- any given Wednesday.

Too many thoughts swirling through my head right now to even attempt a coherent post.

Potential screw job -- again -- from the refs, only to be offset by Landon Donovan, umm, writing the future. (Huge assist from his Nike-ad compatriot -- Tim Howard. Not to toot my own horn, but what have I been saying about goalkeeper distribution...?)

Algeria bizarrely playing for a scoreless tie?

Miss after miss after miss ... after miss.

Clint Dempsey bloodied and bruised.

Jozy Altidore running and running and running and running.

Stomachs in knots.

Blood pressure raising to the boiling point.

Tight chests and hears in throats.

Jonathan Bornstein involved in a World Cup victory -- and cleansheet -- no less.

What a day.

The day soccer, or at least the World Cup, finally arrived in the United States.

June 23, 2010.

* * *

One other quick takeaway, Michael Bradley made himself some stacks of sweet, sweet money cake today. Total class in the midfield.

Labels: 2010 world cup, Landon Donovan, Soccer, tim howard, USMNT

"Go for the glory, go for the score. ... Go for it. CONNECT FOUR!" -- 1980s Connect Four jingle.

Admittedly opening a preamble to the most important American soccer game in four years with a bit of Saturday morning 80s nostalgia might not be the most prudent idea I've ever made writing this blog.

For whatever harebrained reason, that deceptively simple yet savvy children's game jingle has been bouncing through my mind for the last three days as the countdown clock toward 2010 U.S. soccer Ecstasy or Armageddon ticks down to Wednesday morning in Pretoria, South Africa, against Algeria, either.

It doesn't matter that the U.S. gave up a fourth minute to Steven Gerrard in the England game.

It doesn't matter that the ref from Mali disallowed a perfectly fine goal vs. Slovenia.

It doesn't matter than the U.S. gave up the opening goal in its first two matches at the 2010 World Cup.

It doesn't matter who Bob Bradley brought to South Africa or who he left home.

It doesn't matter the U.S. has never won the third group stage game of a World Cup.

Everything since the final whistle in Nuremberg, Germany four years ago has been building to this moment. The U.S. controls its own fate toward advancing into the knockout rounds at the 2010 World Cup. Doesn't matter what England and Slovenia do in Port Elizabeth.

Win and the U.S. is in.

And if they win, just like the Connect Four board, we pull a lever and everything is reset. It won't matter how the U.S. got there ... as long as they do.

Nobody wins the World Cup in the Group Stage. The only nations that get hung up on the groups are the ones eliminated in it.

The U.S. isn't even a place where if they advance they'll be kicking themselves about who they're crossing over against from Group D, either. (More below)

In the wake of Koman Coulibaly's dreadful call that waved off Maurice Edu's goal, the U.S. actually has a lot of sympathy votes. People that usually wouldn't care about soccer are probably ticked off an American team got jobbed over by the refs.

For the first time since the 1994 World Cup on home soil, the general American sports public is aware of this team's existence and will be paying attention to the result. People -- not just ESPN execs -- want this team to advance and play at least one more game this weekend.

A loss, and hey, typical U.S. soccer letdown, right?

International soccer is all about pressure, it seems, these days. That's part of the reason why the playing field has leveled so much. The media and fans expect the big teams to crush the minnows like the old days, when in reality those days, the occasional Portugal 7-0 beatdown on North Korea aside, are long gone.

It's not easy to step onto the field on the World Cup when everyone at home expects you to win 10-0, with a goal in the first minute.

Algeria come into this game fairly, in the parlance of Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, "Loosey, goosey."

Nobody expected the Desert Foxes to still be alive going into the final group game, at least not when you look at their pre-tournament form. We all wrote down Algeria as 2007-08 Derby County-like automatic three-points*. Call it the house money cliche, but Algeria figures to be playing fast and loose ... and confident after basically pushing the entirety of England into Defcon Five panic mode.

* Hey, I was wrong on Algeria too. I thought they'd be eliminated by now in a mini-France self destruct mode.

The U.S.? Actually, for once there is a lot of direct pressure on this team. For one, the stated goal of the 2010 tournament -- from Landon Donovan on down -- was to get out of the group. That's right in front of them. No outside help needed.

Beyond that, the team might not care to think this way, but a lot of casual fans are going to be turned off if the team doesn't figure out a way to get out of a group, which everyone labeled the softest in the Cup last December during the draw. All the U.S. has to do is win one game or else many would-be fans will be again turned back to soccer skeptics. In a way they'd be right too, why fall for the media pumping something up every couple years when it always ends the same disappointing way.

The media knives, which (for some through gritted teeth) remained in the sheaths, will be out in full force. The "Fire Bradley" brigade will be re-supplied by a new ammo drop. It won't be pretty.

What it all boils down to is with the eyes of the nation, perhaps for the first time since July 4, 1994, watching can the U.S. come through with a win?

That, friends, may sound easy ... but it won't exactly be child's play, like a game of Connect Four either.

Miscellany:

* Assuming the U.S. does manage to get a way through to the Round of 16, it might be futile trying to project who you'd want the U.S. to play. My ranks (for preference) would be 1) Australia 2) Serbia 3) Germany 4) Ghana.

Logically, Germany should be first, but the U.S. under Bradley seems to play better against a traditional world power or "name" team. Ghana scares me for its overall speed, which could expose the U.S. defense, the 2006 group game notwitstanding.

Germany have more talent and skill than Ghana, but that tends to bring out the best in the U.S., where they could once again rely on the underdog card. In an even match with Ghana? Could be one of those ugly U.S. days we all know and hate. And that has nothing to do with the crunching would-be tackles from Kevin-Prince Boateng either.

* Amazing how Algeria went from awful, also-rans to a cocky team brimming with swagger after holding England#. A lot of the Algerians seem to have the same glint in their eyes as Clint Dempsey.

# If you want to split hairs, the entire American ethos was born from defeating the redcoats back in the 1770s. Guess beating the English allows you to puff out your chest a bit, doesn't it?

My biggest fear toward Algeria is a set play delivery from Karim Ziani finding a big target like Madjid Bougherra coming forward. Still think this team is closer to the one that struggled pre-World Cup than the one that held England. Confidence is contagious, of course.

* The script is for the U.S. to roll up their sleeves, go it the old "rah-rah" effort and get the result. Algeria isn't going to roll over, since a win keeps them in contention for the Round of 16, too. This, unfortunately, won't be an ESPN made-for-tv production -- think "Dancing with the Soccer Stars" -- with a built-in happy ending. The U.S. will have to put in work.

* Maurice Edu definitely seems like a big force in the U.S. locker room, but can he be on the field, too? His best spot for the U.S. going forward is probably in the center of defense, but it's not like Rangers is just going to move a midfield fulcrum back to help out the U.S., now are they?

* You'd think Stuart Holden would be a player with a skill set that would be useful it what figures to be an open, technical game.

* If Michael Bradley has another big game, does a Premier League coach come calling to Gladbach with an offer it can't refuse? Arsene Wenger apparently is swooning over him. Perhaps Cesc insurance?

* Even, if the U.S. breaks through with an early goal, Bradley better keep them pushing forward. Does anyone feel confident with the U.S. protecting a one-goal lead for anything more than a couple minutes?

There can't be many more things in the sporting world that tests your nerves quite like trying to protect a lead in the final 10 minutes of a World Cup when the opponent has poured everything forward. Those situations do truly turn a game into a battle of wills.

If the U.S. finds themselves in this situation, American fans will finally join their worldwide soccer brethren in experiencing what Sir Alex Ferguson so colorfully calls, "Squeaky bum time."

* Speaking of the U.S. defense, does anyone feel confident with Oguchi Onyewu back there? Believe me, this isn't a personal attack or nitpicking.

Readers and I have been saying for years that Onyewu is great as a physical presence. As a pure soccer defender, he leaves some things to be desired, even before his knee injury. You know Algeria is going to probably go right at him this game with speed tests. For Bradley it would be a huge gamble sitting him down and I tend to doubt he would.

One thing to consider is that Onyewu was pretty poor that half-season at Newcastle United and began slowly last summer at AC Milan. For all his work at Standard Liege, did anyone ever see him play for an extended amount of time? The Jupiler Pro League in Belgium is only rated No. 14 in Europe and does feature a vuvuzela playing beer can as its logo. (No lie.)

* Bottom line, whoever plays in the U.S. cannot give Ziani or any of the other Algeria threats all day on the ball in those 10 yards of space in front of the penalty area.

* Maybe I was a little harsh on Altidore in my harried Friday post-Slovenia write-up. I definitely overlooked the goal vs. Spain, but still, it's time for Jozy to stop his mini-flopping game and use his raw ability and score another important U.S. goal. Is that too much to ask from a 20-year-old? He is, after all, getting "Mission Impossible" tips from Zinedine Zidane on the top of a skyscraper, or at least that's what Adidas has led me to believe.

* If somehow Landon Donovan can carry his form from the final 45 minutes against Slovenia into Wednesday, oh man. All will be forgiven by even, I'm guessing, the most ardent "Landycakes" folks.

Easy scenario builder:

Thanks to reader "Barstool69" via his friend Tyler in Nashville, here's a handy chart to consult with all the Group C scenarios.



Lineup guess:

My preferred XI

4-3-2-1 or 4-5-1

GK -- Howard

DEF -- Cherundolo -- DeMerit -- Bocanegra -- Spector

DEF MID -- Beasley -- Bradley -- Edu

ATT MID -- Dempsey -- Donovan

FOR -- Altidore

Explanation -- Maybe The Elder will one day realize running a straight 4-4-2 against a team is a recipe for disaster. This type of lineup worked well neutralizing England. As you've read, I'm down on Onyewu, so moving Bocanegra inside covers for him and makes sure he's not exposed by Algeria's quick wing players. Spector? We roll the dice and hope he's got a nice cross or two in his boots.

Algeria is going to do its work from the outside-in, meaning it might even be worth dusting off DaMarcus Beasley to track and harass either Belhadj or Ziani. Beasley can still be an effective defensive runner to lock up on those the Desert Foxes key men. Unorthodox, I know.

This leaves a possibly lethal triangle of attackers with the "D-A-D" line working to keep the Algerians pinned deep, with support from Bradley the Younger running forward, perhaps creating some 3-on-2, 4-on-3 chances. Beasley and Edu stay back and help the defense.

Guess a lot of this comes down to what Bradley thinks Algeria will do. Algeria's 5-2-2-1/5-4-1 formation gave the Foxes plenty of possession and frustrated England. Needing a win, though, they might need to mix it up. Don't forget, Algeria hasn't scored yet. This might allow the U.S. to finally find some lanes on the counter attack.

The Elder's XI

GK -- Howard

DEF -- Cherundolo -- DeMerit -- Onyewu -- Bocanegra

MID -- Dempsey -- Bradley -- Clark -- Donovan

FOR -- Altidore -- Buddle

Explanation: The Elder sticks with "his guys" at least from the start. My biggest hope is that Bradley isn't locked into 4-4-2, or at least the two holding midfielders. What gives me hope is that Bradley has had a tinge of unpredictability this World Cup, so maybe he does something a little different. We'll see. Basically, break down the England/Algeria tape and do the complete opposite.

Perhaps a 4-4-1-1 with Holden out wide and Dempsey in the hole behind Altidore happens.

Don't care if I'm right or wrong here, so long as the U.S. finds a way to score one more goal than Algeria with whatever XI lines up at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

Around the Cup:

* Since we're getting Mexico vs. Argentina in the Round of 16 yet again, is there any way to convince Javier Aguirre to manage the match in a sports coat and jeans, Ricardo Lavolpe style?

* Through three games, no problem for Maradona. Look at the Argies opponents, though. Perhaps he was onto something by leaving Javier Zanetti home. It worked for Spain leaving Raul home at Euro 2008. Quasi-Ewing Theory in play?

* More on Brazil later in the week, but Dunga is silently creating a really dirty set up, sneaking Dani Alves into the midfield late in matches. You watch.

* It's a lot of fun to have a laugh at France. The fault falls on the shoulders of the France Federation for keeping Domenech in charge. Head case coach + head case players + prostitution scandal = meltdown.

This was one World Cup disaster we all saw coming.

* I tweeted this, but if Nic Anelka can show up and look happy in arguably the world's worst commercial (for Pringles), why did he sulk through the World Cup? Better question, why would Pringles even want Le Sulk associated with their product?

* Is it wrong for me to hope that David Villa's missed penalty ensures Spain plays Brazil in the Round of 16?

* How about the contrast in teams here from Africa. Nigeria shot itself in the foot in all three group games and goes home. Meanwhile South Africa goes down valiantly, only missing out on the Round of 16 on goal difference. A French scalp is a decent consolation prize.

* We've already got Argentina/Mexico locked in. How about these potential Round of 16 beauties: England/Germany ... US/Germany ... Brazil/Spain .. Netherlands/Italy ... Chile/Portugal. ... How lucky would Portugal end up if they got Chile instead of Spain. Chile aren't slouches, but still.

Final thought:

After 90 minutes in Pretoria one thing is going to matter, the scoreboard reading USA 1, Algeria 0 ... USA 2, Algeria 1 ... USA 3, Algeria 2 ... etc.

You get the point.

To quote a line from "Breaking Bad" ... no more half measures.

U.S. 2, Algeria 0

Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, clint dempsey, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Soccer, USMNT, world cup 2010

Maybe in the postgame "mixed zone" following the next U.S. National Team match a courageous journo can ask Michael Bradley whether or not he'd consider himself a Luddite. Granted, the poser of said question might get a hand to the face or an icy, icy stare.

As it stands, it seems "Baby" Bradley has an axe to grind with nearly any of the humble scribes who cover the USMNT, or particularly anyone like myself who likes to spout off on the Inter-nets how they'd make a better U.S. coach than his pops, The Elder.

Still, Mike, even if you disdain people like myself and everything we stand for, many thanks for finishing that goal in the final 10 minutes of Friday's frantic 2-2 comeback by the USMNT vs. Slovenia in the second Group C match for both teams.

Had the U.S. failed to lodge a result the ensuing seven-ish hour car ride from Connecticut to Montreal would have been grim. Real grim.

Okay, that's getting ahead of things.

Let's jump back a few weeks -- the day of last month's U.S. pre-World Cup tune-up vs. the Czech Republic in fact -- when my friend John came up with the quality idea to hang out in Montreal for a weekend during the World Cup. The genesis of this seemingly cockamamie idea sprung from two points: 1) the prospect of legal gambling in Quebec 2) Montreal's status of the most European city in North America.

Didn't quite work out like that.

In Quebec sports gambling is legal, sort of, but more of that in plenty of detail later.

As for Montreal holding the passion for the World Cup on par with other European destinations? Put it this way, though it was broadcast all over the CBC it seemed most Montreal sports fans were either wrapped up by the Canadiens trading their goalie a week ago or the first summer scrimmage of the Alouettes -- no lie.

That's no knock on Canada, which only real tie to the World Cup is that the official song is by K'Naan, a Somali immigrant.

Oh, nobody seemed in mourning any more over the loss of the Expos to Washington either. Steven Stasburg's name rings out in the Old City about as much as say, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Maybe the city was simply burnt out from the previous weekend's F-1 Grand Prix race.

Moving on.

Driving up through rustic Vermont, John, my buddy Mike and myself were just happy we weren't shell shocked by another stunning U.S. loss to fret about the disallowed goal waved off by the Malian ref that seemed to have everyone else hot-and-bothered South of the Border. Sure the would-be Maurice Edu goal was shown on "Sportscentre," but instead of Alexi Lalas foaming at the mouth indignantly over Koman Coulibaly's phantom call, TSN quickly cut to the Toronto Maple Leafs trading two prospects for draft picks, or something like that.

Put it this way, the community-access level panel show on Rogers Sportsnet was not breaking down the Edu "goal." This channel actually aired live four-on-four street hockey matches. No lie.

So, yeah, that was a bit of a relief since complaining about referees might be the bottom of the barrel for sports analysis. It happens. FIFA should review its system or allow a ref to confer with the fourth (off field) official via headset or overturn a call if his assistants say so, but FIFA doesn't use logic. Ever.

Eventually finding a New York Post with the front page "CRIME!" headline did get the blood boiling. By that I mean the $2.50 price tag.

What the Canadian coverage of the World Cup did was make me grateful for ESPN pumping all the money it did into production and on-air talent. The CBC was sturdy (if exceeding dry) with its presentation, but it's halftime and postgame was like ESPN in 1998, 2002 and 2006 with studio analysis half a world away. Odd though, the credentials of the two analysts were never mentioned. CBC must charge its graphics people by the letter.

Perhaps its Canada's overall lack of passion for soccer, or at least international soccer -- despite all the passion from on the club level Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal the Canadian National Team didn't even make the final CONCACAF Hex -- which allowed a trio of Yankee wise asses in cargo shorts to capitalize on the "Mise-O-Jeu," a parlay-betting system I'm guessing very few American even know exists. Hell, it seems most Canadians, or at least those in chic downtown Montreal aren't wrapped up by it.

In short, you can bet on games, but in order to win you have to hit the parlay of three events. We stuck mainly with the World Cup, but baseball* and the U.S. Open were in play. Besides the three matches of the day, there were head-to-head propositional bets with two players and who would score more goals, for instance Keisuke Honda vs. Robin van Persie. Everything on offer had one of three options. Your maximum wager on any one parlay is $100. We were much lower than that.

* Lost in translation. In baseball you could wager who accumulates more "points" between two players using "simple", doubles, triples and "circuit" as 1-through-4 system.

It was a pretty daunting system at first, as my pockets were overflowing with the receipt paper listing all the day's wagers, worse than a grocery store or Radio Shack receipt. One of our safest bets -- we thought -- would be that Strasburg would get more strikeouts than Gavin Floyd, which would anchor our other two picks.

That went out the window when we looked up to see a highlight of Strasburg fanning Alexi Ramirez on "Sportscentre" earlier Friday.

Long story short, we loved the Netherlands and Denmark to win. That left us needing a third bet. Ghana and Australia for the tie? Sure, why not. Nice little multiplier there.

John ran off the news shop to lock in the bets, leaving the rest of Friday night for us to guzzle down the surprisingly expensive Canadian beer and to people watch from our outside seats at Montreal's young and lustful who were out for a night of disco dancing and showing off their Lotuses, Ferraris and Porches.

Aside No. 1 -- Fashion is Danger

Little known fact, in college I tried out for "College Jeopardy" in Philadelphia. Passed the test, but didn't get the final call back after a trail game. They make you fill out a little bio, you know likes, dislikes, what you'd do with the money.

My first response on any future like/dislike inquiry in the "dislike" column is fashion.

I'm just a mongo American, at heart I guess. I don't wear socks with sandals or a fanny pack -- perhaps a new hipster ironic trend? But I'll never grace the pages of GQ either.

In Montreal, well, my lack of fashion acumen probably make the native French speakers and all the people wearing three-quarters length pants, deep-Vs and faux hawks probably disdain me more than the very aggressive bums trying to shake you down for beer money. In theory the bums have no money for the hippest fashions, whereas I actively chose to dress like a typical college freshman.

Even worse, there was this uber-hipster boutique offering screen prints of tragically ironic self portraits from circa 1989. I wouldn't be surprised if my face ended up there in a few weeks. If not me, certainly the conventioneers from the Rotary conference besieging downtown Montreal that week.

In other words, Montreal lives up to its European billing in this regard. It's just a matter of choice. I choose to spend my money, on say, World Cup wagers as opposed to shirts with plunging necklines. To each their own.

It's odd though, the juxtaposition of Canada. You have the "Haute couture" of Rue Sainte-Catherine on one hand, then on the other the CBC is making a big deal that it's airing "Happy Gilmore" during it's summer Sunday night movie series. This is the city that spawned Arcade Fire and a slew of other indie bands but Scorpions are making the Bell Centre a stop on their farewell tour.

Suppose that's what makes it such a cosmopolitan place.

And no, I didn't spend any time shopping at American Apparel or Urban Outfitters, although one store I swore I saw the same outfit Joachim Loew wore while he coached Germany against Serbia.

Back to our story at hand:

At some point Friday we stumbled into an Irish pub and found a group of English-speaking dart players. As John and Mike played, I watched the replay of the England/Algeria game, which we'd tried to listen to through my iPhone ESPN World Cup app. Believe it or not, there's not a lot of 3G coverage in rustic, rural Vermont -- beavers have yet to acquire the ability to text message. Intermittently we'd hear Shepp Messing filleting the rotten English performance, which seemed to amount to the Three Lions simply standing around and waiting for something to happen.

Watching the replay wasn't much better. England's problem is pretty clear at this point 1) Too many players operating in the same pockets of space 2) No clear pecking order. Is it Rooney's team? Gerrard's? Lampard's? Who is the alpha dog? 3) No specialists. England have a lot of fast, physical players, but a touch of class would help. In retrospect, David Beckham would provide more balance on the right than Aaron Lennon, who internationally is just a speed merchant. 4) Teams always bring their best against England, since in the back of their minds a good performance vs. the Three Lions could lead to a nice financial payday down the road.

Still think England beats Slovenia, but all this John Terry/Fabio Capello meeting stuff? Is this a Soap Opera or a World Cup? With England, this might be one time blowing off the media is justified.

But what do I know? The Molson was running pretty deep at that point.

Friday night's revelry left Japan vs. Netherlands 7:30 a.m. kickoff in a dream-like state, only if that dream tasted like Gyro sauce and poutine -- perhaps Canada's greatest contribution to the human race.

Wesley Sneijder scored a goal, possibly.

It at least ticked off one of our parlay requirements, leaving the remaining two games of the day in play.

Canadian breakfast beckoned, though it would be a two-man-weave, with Mike probably making the wise decision to watch Australia/Ghana in the comfort of the hotel room.

Meanwhile John and I trudged off in to the steamy, humid Montreal sun, searching for televisions with the World Cup along with a healthy dose of lards and fats to sop up the prior night's booze.

We found a seemingly cozy IHOP-like chain restaurant that featured 1) air conditioning 2) booths 3) multiple HD television games + audio from the game. Bingo!

However things might have taken a turn for the worse when our waiter**, Pablo, started chatting to us about the games and how they'd been poor. We mentioned our "Mise-O-Jeu" wager and he kind of shook his head. Canadians must be leery of this lotto's oily tentacles. Or maybe it's just a hockey thing.

** Tough job for Montreal waiters/service personnel, how to know to begin in French or English? My guess, they look at the foot wear. If somebody is wearing socks creeping past the their ankles with sneakers, they're an American.

As John slowly and surely took down a breakfast casserole of ham, bacon, homefries, cheese, topped with two fried eggs, we watched as Australia went ahead and for Ghana to tie it up.

Me, I stuck with a great cappuccino. The women who prepared it came over asking, "I hear you like my cappuccino." I responded, "It's tremendous." Prompting her to reply, "That's a ... different word." ... Franco-phones, man.

Enough about food.

Friends, rooting for a tie is one of the strangest experiences in all of sports.

When it got to 1-1 on Asamoah Gyan's penalty we were on the edge of our seat for the next hour. Even in a low-scoring sport it's not good when either team having the ball anywhere within 40 yards of goal makes you nervous.

When John and I high-fived across the table, the rest of the people in the restaurant -- including a Tiger Woods lookalike -- were baffled.

Remember, "Mise-O-Jeu" does funny things to a man.

Aside No. 2 -- Little Algeria

Quick straw poll. The most popular team in Montreal for the 2010 World Cup?

If you said Algeria, you're right. My subtitle was a giveaway, wasn't it?

Every year, the green-and-white flag of the North African nation was flying. From cabs to rings on teenagers trying to bum cigarettes to the three, count 'em three different dudes rocking Karim Ziani Vfl Wolfsburg jerseys, it was little Algeria North of the Border.

Not sure, as a U.S. supporter, how this made me felt. Don't want the Desert Foxes to confident for Wednesday.

In case you were wondering the USMNT was in the running for 32nd most popular team with North Korea. Considering the amount of designed sunglasses -- perhaps from the Kim Jong Il collection -- our dearly beloved Yanks might have indeed been last.

...And we're back:

Two down, one to go.

We were still in the mix for Denmark/Cameroon and spent about 30 minutes looking for the right place to watch it. Finally on about the six bar we found this deserted Irish pub, with leather chairs and a couch positioned directly in front of a flatscreen -- perfect.

Not perfect? Samuel Eto'o early goal -- especially since we also had a bet with Nic Bendtner to outscore him. Christian Poulsen's giveaway? Now I know how that Danish fan who ran into the field to fight the ref felt.

But when the big Arsenal forward poked in around the half hour mark? Oh baby. The poor Cameroon fan -- the only person at the bar -- he had to hear us hooting and hollering for the potential to win a few dollars, whereas his country's pride was at stake.

When Dennis Rommendahl's goal went in? Eruption ... until we watched Denmark over the final half hour do everything but score an own goal to give Cameroon a result.

At full time we were literally øver the møøn. It wasn't so much that we won money, it was that we beat the "Mise-O-Jeu" where seemingly thousands of others had failed. Every person we told that we won the parlay seemed genuinely stunned, hell, if we'd had a Canadian address to fill out on the winning ticket (printed on the backs) we might have found our picture in the Canadian lottery Hall of Fame.

Canadian Fun Facts:

* Eskimo is considered a slur.
* People from Newfoundland are called "Newfies" and are the butt of jokes nationwide.
* Poutine + Falafel = gross on paper, awesome in execution.
* Joey Saputo, owner of the soon-to-be MLS Montreal Impact makes good cheese.
* Fish poaching is a serious crime.
* MLB Umpire "Cowboy" Joe West once consumed 17 Bud Lights in one night at Crescent Street pub.
* The easy way to burn a group of kids who look fresh off the set of "Gossip Girl" celebrating their High School graduation is to ask if Justin Beiber is playing the party. Me 1, Canadian kids 0. Bullseye!

Back to the Mis!

Of course winning on three Saturday World Cup matches -- which we couldn't collect until Sunday -- got the wheels in our heads spinning. We planned to leave before the Brazil/Ivory Coast match. How could we lodge a low-risk wager that would make driving North of the Border at a later date worthwhile to collect our winnings?

New Zealand.

We called a proverbial band meeting and determined the payout on the Kiwis to win was fantastic. And if Chris Killen could out-score Alberto Gilardino? Damn, the Canadian government might have ceded us Prince Edward Island.

Inside the second floor of a Lebanese takeout joint, John and I crunched numbers hard enough that if the Coen Bros. ever make a sequel to "A Serious Man" we'd be perfect candidates. Oh, and, by this point Mike probably wanted to kill both of us for our impromptu Statistics 101 discourse.

Betting the All Whites worked in two ways a) big payout b) another reason to root against Italy. Sure, it was a longer shot than Will Ferrell becoming a comedy kingpin if you polled an audience member leaving the theater after watching "A Night at the Roxbury," but it was worth it.

Turns out, our second rodeo with the "Mise-O-Jeu" went down in flames pretty quick. For one, the Slovakia/Paraguay game didn't work out, leaving our only parlay in play involving the Kiwis winning and a draw in the Rochester Rhinos/Montreal Impact USL game -- my mistake filling out the insanely confusing lotto card.

Alas, we tried to recreate the same breakfast/game-watching experience. Same booth, but our new waiter -- not Pablo -- was a dour French-Canadian women with a hyphenated first name who seemed to want us out of her area as soon as possible.

The MLS-tastic New Zealanders did get a result, holding the holders 1-1, but that wasn't enough for our dream payout and replacing Wayne Gretzky as the most famous people in Canada.

The life of champagne, cigars and top hats will have to wait for another day.

Wrapping it up:

Even though the New Zealand longshot didn't pay off, we still felt like conquering heroes, especially when the cashiers at the stationary store did a double-take at our winning tickets and told us they didn't have enough in the till to pay us. (The money is contingent on what they get in sales, plus it was 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Downtown Montreal also doesn't seem like a lotto hotspot, either.)

As we headed back to the States, we made the requisite stop at the Duty Free shop, where I learned via Twitter (no data plan in Canada turned out to be a good thing, actually) the meltdown with the French team.**** Duty free shops are always so weird, booze and cologne. Odd combo.

**** Who is the biggest culprit with the French disaster? The FFF for keeping Domenech? Domenech for fighting with the players? The players for deciding to piss away a World Cup like spoiled little babies? Guess Irish eyes are smiling either way.

I did the oddest thing, at least for most, collecting some of the unusual flavors of Lays chips -- Ketchup, Smokey Bacon, etc. -- for posterity's sake. Making small talk with the cashier -- also blown away we won "Mise-O-Jeu" -- led to finding out she was incredulous we didn't have Ketchup Chips in the States.

Well we do, if you look for them. We certainly don't have legal sports lotteries, either. Which, gun to my head, is probably a good thing. Before crossing the Border I figured legal gambling would the be the best way to help soccer take off in American.

The more I thought about it, if I lived in Quebec I'd probably be pushing 350 pounds with thinning hair and a bad smoking/gambling habit. So let's consider that a win.

As our long day of driving finally hit the end of the road, John and I reflected on our wins and the World Cup. Call Domenech crazy for his (alleged) reliance on astrology to pick the French team.

Crazy, yeah, but to win the World Cup you just might need the stars to align in your favor.

Guess the same could be said for Quebec's "Mise-O-Jeu."

* * *

Back to business tomorrow with USMNT/Algeria musings.

Labels: 2010 world cup, algeria, another reason to hate france, canadians, England, france, newfies, poutine, Soccer