Failure to Launch

What does it mean for US Soccer that they were not able to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London this summer? I am not quite sure yet, but it did not leave a good feeling in my gut. The United States plays in the CONCACAF region, which includes North and Central American countries, as well as the island countries in the Caribbean. If you think this is an area chock-full of soccer powers, you are quite mistaken. Mexico is obviously the most formidable foe for the United States, and outside of that there are only a couple Central American countries that are somewhat respectable (Panama is the only other team in the top 50 in the world). So, it should be a given that both the U.S. and Mexico qualify for every major world tournament, right? Before this failure, I would have thought the answer was yes, but let’s take a look at what went wrong and if it matters at all.

It must be noted that the United States U-23 team was playing in these qualifying games. While it is easy to use this as an excuse, it would have been nice to see the future of American soccer show that they were ready for the big stage. Just because some of the main cogs of the national team did not participate, rising stars such as Freddy Adu, Juan Agudelo, and Brek Shea still played. One of the main reasons that they did not qualify is that, in my opinion, they may have thought the task too easy and simply failed to muster up the motivation to play 100%.

The national team is coming off of a huge road win against Italy, as noted here by an expert soccer journalist. Even though it was in a friendly competition, coach Klinsmann was able to quiet his doubters as the U.S. earned their first significant victory in a couple years. This should not have taken the focus away from Olympic qualifying. Even more, World Cup qualifying begins this summer, so the staff may have lacked in the effort and strategy categories.

The main reason I am disappointed in this result is that it is a huge buzz kill for the high that American soccer fans were feeling after the Italy match. The Olympics could have been a chance to show off the young talent that Klinsmann has at his disposal over the next couple of World Cups. Instead, the U.S. will focus on qualifying for the World Cup and hope to beat the soccer powerhouses of the Caribbean and Central America to reach the World Cup…in 2014. London could have given the Americans a chance to measure up to high caliber competition before Rio de Janeiro. It will not match up to the level of play that we see at the World Cup or near what we will see in Poland and Ukraine at the Euro Cup this summer. However, it will be a good measuring stick for the future of soccer all over the world.

American soccer still has a ways to go to reach a consistent level of success. No matter how frustrating this is, I am used to my sports teams letting me down, so I will keep the faith. Plus, the hiring of Klinsmann and the subsequent events still give me hope that the future is bright. I would just love to get to this future a little quicker.

As the EPL Turns

It was an interesting week for the top teams in the English Premier League. Sunday brought us an upset of Manchester City by recently promoted Swansea while Wayne Rooney led Manchester United to a victory over West Brom. This turn of events allowed United to leapfrog its rivals for the top spot in England. With only 10 matches remaining, City finds itself in a precarious situation.

Both teams also played in the Europa League during the week. If you remember, both were embarrassingly knocked out of the Champions League in group play and relegated to playing in the second-tier Europa competition. Of course, both were knocked out that this week. This was just the final punctuation in what has been a miserable year for English teams in European competition (except you Chelsea, congratulations on advancing, or whatever).

So now the teams from Manchester only have the EPL title to fight over. City had been coasting along most of the season, but United has been able to fight through injuries to get results and stay within striking distance. With the shocking loss to Swansea, City finally cracked and let United into the driver’s seat.

While examining the remaining schedules, I always thought that City had the tougher road to glory. They still have to play the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Arsenal. Even more importantly, a second match against United (who they manhandled earlier this season) looms. This match may very well decide the championship.

I still believe that both teams have some kinks to work out and whichever squad is able to regain composure will take the title. Overall, the league has seen some new teams sustain success (Newcastle United and Tottenham) and a familiar face regain some pride (Arsenal). The contest for a top four spot in the EPL and thus a spot in the Champions League next season also remains in the balance.

The end of this season, however disappointing it was in Europe, still guarantees excitement as we wind down. While many may say that the EPL had a down season, I think (and hope) that they saved everything for the last two months. Whoever takes home the title will have earned it and will show the world that there are still competent soccer clubs outside of Barcelona and Madrid.

One Large Leap for US Soccer

So the last day of February rolled around this past Wednesday, the twenty-ninth day of this odd month, and the United States Men’s National Team found itself in Italy facing a side that it had never defeated. Never! Unfortunately, I found myself in class, and since you can’t skip grad school classes, I was forced to find a way to watch and participate in higher learning (borrow a classmate’s laptop and sit in a strategic part of the classroom!).

I originally thought about writing this article about how this team, under the still-new leadership of Jürgen Klinsmann, was not progressing at the rate it needed for several reasons. The full ‘A’ squad has not played together yet, including stars Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, and constantly injured Stu Holden. Furthermore, they have had a couple good performances littered amongst some mediocre showings. I was also going to comment on a couple players who I thought had received a fair audition but were not national team-worthy just yet.

But here we were, in Italy on a day that only comes once every four years. I tuned in about 20 minutes into the game to see the Americans donning their new away jerseys (which I didn’t hate). The first half wasn’t perfect, but Italy was held in check. The U.S. came back in the second half and it seemed as though they were not the same timid team that we saw at the end of 2011.

The pitch was very slow. Italy was spending too much time on the offensive, and Jozy Altidore was spending too much on the ground. But after some good ball movement, Fabian Johnson got a good cross in to Jozy, who instead of trying to draw a penalty kick, dropped it off to Dempsey who slotted it home for the winner. I must admit, I almost cheered out loud in the middle of class, but somehow kept my composure.

The last 35 minutes of the match were not easy. Italy pushed the ball repeatedly and we witnessed the best defense the US has displayed in a long time. Captain Carlos Bocanegra led his defenders into battle; players were diving and sacrificing their bodies to block shots and break up passes in a manner you only see during power plays in the NHL. It was hard for me to contain my emotions because the only thing I enjoy more than goals is stellar defense. The line held and the US walked out of Italy with their first victory ever against this world soccer power.

While Italy wasn’t at full power, the Americans were also short a couple key players. Playing on the road, they never backed down and though they didn’t play at their best, they played well enough to complete a much-needed signature win. Now, Klinsmann has a game that he can point to in meetings as the “see, you can beat the big boys” game.

Even more than these typical motivating points, the Americans can feel good about a win while still realizing that they didn’t play their best. It’s much easier to self-criticize and improve after a victory and now they can stay positive while still perfecting their craft.

This game may also provide Klinsmann the break he needs to get out of the media spotlight and work on building his team in time for World Cup qualifying. For the short term at least, he can concentrate on assembling his ideal squad. Up next for Klinsmann and co. is Scotland and then a home test against 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil. These matches won’t happen until May, so the Americans can ride this feel-good wave until then. However, these international friendlies will be quickly followed by World Cup qualifying. At that time, we hope to finally see a team ready to take the leap.

The RVP Conundrum

Robin Van Persie is one of the best strikers in the English Premier League. No, let me correct myself—in the world. But he plays for Arsenal. A couple of seasons ago, that was great for him. But Arsenal has been on an unbelievable drought, failing to win silverware since the 2004-05 season. This has become a perennial story in England and the struggles of manager Arsene Wenger to keep supporters have been well-documented. This season has been much of the same, but RVP has been phenomenal, scoring 22 goals in league play.

What to do for the left-footed striker who could be collecting trophies elsewhere? He plays for the Netherlands national team, one that is considered one of the best in the world. However, they also have not won a premier competition in quite a while.

In professional sports, we tend to highlight either the athletes who are starring for winning teams or brooding over athletes who are making the spotlight for the wrong reasons. But for every Kevin Garnett (Boston era) there is a Kevin Garnett (Minnesota era). These phenomenal talents seemingly waste away on teams that cannot truly compete for a title. But here in lies the question: is it better to have these talents move to teams that have larger budgets and better chances at the title, or should they stay with their current teams in hopes that they lift these underdog squads to glory?

A better example may be Demba Ba, Newcastle United’s breakout star. He is chasing RVP for the goal title and has 16 goals and counting. This Senegalese striker is lesser known around the world, and though Newcastle United is in contention for a top four spot, they are not a club (like Arsenal) that can compete financially with the Chelsea’s and Manchester City’s of the league.

While I can see the pros of having players like RVP and Ba transferred to teams that compete year in and year out, the part of me that loves underdogs has to prevail. It was painful to see the nightly efforts of Kevin Garnett only in the regular season, but seeing the small teams make a splash makes sports fun to watch. If my beloved Manchester United continued to sign all the rising stars, the same teams would compete and the same teams would fight for relegation.

Right now, that is the state of professional soccer. In England, both Manchester teams, Liverpool, and Chelsea can spend the most money to acquire the best talent. In Spain it is Barcelona and Real Madrid. The list goes on. Major League Baseball has the same issues because it too does not have a salary cap. At some point, the governing bodies for these leagues will have to decide if it is better to continue to alienate the small market teams or to make significant, unprecedented leaps and introduce parity into their leagues.

Even though I am a fan of the one of the top-spending teams, I vote for the latter. It is time for a change in professional sports. We have lost touch of why kids around the world play soccer or baseball or football growing up. For some reason, love for the game is trumped by money at the top levels. RVP and Ba may very well end up at other squads because they will be tempted by chances to play in the limelight, but we should root for them to stay put.

Let’s hope that rising players for smaller squads stay true to their roots and make this league more fun to watch for a wider base of fans. It will only do us all good.

Uh Oh, Mario!

Mario Balotelli. Those two words have the ability to haunt even the fans of the teams he plays for. Balotelli is the much-maligned, but very skilled, striker for Manchester City. If not for his abilities with a soccer ball, he would have been looking for other work a long time ago. On multiple occasions, he has made a fool of himself but has failed to realize that he comes off as a disgrace to the game.

Balotelli’s on- and off-field antics have become well known; from telling a police officer that he was carrying excess cash because he is rich to having trouble putting a practice bib on to upsetting his teammates and coach when he decides to be fancy on the pitch. Balotelli brought his antics to America last summer when, during the World Football Challenge, City was playing the Los Angeles Galaxy. Balotelli was played through and had a teammate accompany him into the box, but instead he did a fancy spin backheel that went wide. The crowd booed and manager Roberto Manicini immediately took Balotelli out of the game. To make matters worse, Balotelli came to the bench, talked back to his manager, and walked away unapologetically.

Most recently, Balotelli entered City’s match against Tottenham as a substitute and almost immediately created controversy. He received a yellow card for an early tussle with Scott Parker, and then in the last 10 minutes of the match, he took a shot with Parker sliding in. The first foot landed and hit Parker, but that could be dismissed as an accident. The second foot came down and the video shows that Balotelli stomped on Parker’s face, as seen here. Referee Howard Webb seemed to have been right there, but made no call. Even in the instance that Balotelli did not have a prior yellow, this could have been a straight red. But no call was made and Balotelli remained in the game. Then in the waning moments, Balotelli drew a penalty kick and converted for the winner in a 3-2 thriller.

The Football Association reviewed the video and has suspended the Italian for four matches. There is no question that something needed to be done, but given that he stayed in the game and had such an impact on the final outcome, a four game suspension seems inconsequential.  

The real problem here is that the Balotelli’s of the world keep getting playing time and attention. At some point, Mancini is going to be forced to decide if he wants to keep playing with fire and risk the antics for the small return of Balotelli’s talent, or save his team and cut ties with the troublesome player. It already happened when the striker played for Inter Milan, and I am sure an ultimatum is going to arise for City.

Soccer is known as the beautiful game, but this notion has been muddied by players embellishing and diving, accusations of racism, fan riots, and awful officiating. Some of these are an easy fix, and some are not. Mario Balotelli is someone who cannot be controlled behaviorally but if no one gives him a chance to play, only then can he learn to respect the game. Until then, any time he steps on the pitch, we will continue to say to ourselves, “Uh oh, Mario.”

A Possible Turning Point

This weekend marks one of the biggest in the English Premier League as there are matches with the potential to throw the race wide open. Bolton and Liverpool square off to lead a set of intriguing matches on Saturday, but Sunday brings two of the biggest matches of the season. Tottenham visit Manchester City while Manchester United travel to Arsenal. Both are the second matches between each set of teams and all four have come a long way since the first go-round. City embarrassed the Spurs 5-1 in their first meeting in August while United shellacked Arsenal 8-2 on that same fateful day.

Arsenal and Tottenham have actually rebounded quite nicely since. Arsenal were on a roll with only three losses in 15 matches until two road losses in their last two matches. Tottenham may very well be the hottest team in the league with only one loss in 19 matches since. Currently, Tottenham sits only five points out of first place with a chance to become a true title contender come Sunday.

City has slowed down on the goal-scoring tear they were on in the early parts of the season (as predicted by yours truly) and have incurred a couple losses that have created a little doubt in their title aspirations. United have had significant injuries that have caused Paul Scholes to come out of retirement to give some aid to an ailing midfield. Both are still forces to be reckoned with because they still have the payroll, immense fan support, and the ability to make a game-changing move before the end of the January transfer window.

Now, I would love to make predictions for all the matches this weekend, but if you read last week’s article—of course you did—you know that I was only mediocre in my picks (4-5). So, instead of trying to predict all the matches, I am going to focus all of my crystal balling on these pivotal match-ups.

Tottenham at Manchester City—I am very excited for this game. Hotspur are on a roll, to put it lightly, and City have only been showing up every other match, so we will see who shines. If this season has told us anything, it is that home field advantage does not mean as much. As a United fan, I would love to see a hard fought battle that ends as a disappointment for both teams, and I think that is what will occur. 2-2 tie.

Manchester United at Arsenal—After Arsenal’s miserable season in 2010-11, I was a proponent of Arsene Wenger hitting the road. It was not that I thought he is not a good manager, but I thought he had lost his touch to be able to motivate a team that seemed dazed and confused. However, he has, if Arsenal maintain a level of success, earned Manager of the Year honors for bringing this team back into contention. United have dealt with the disappointment of losing in the Champions League, losing captain Nemanja Vidic to injury, and having goalkeeper David de Gea fall out of first team favor. Still, they have done a good job at keeping pace with City and look to take advantage of Arsenal once again. Even with Arsenal’s impressive stretch, I still do not think they have enough to keep pace. 3-2 United.

This Sunday looks to be an intriguing day of football in England and America. These two matchups, no matter the results, will tell us who is ready to make a stretch run toward the title. Though these are by no means the equivalent of the NFL Conference Championship games we will see later in the day, they may eliminate two teams from competition or show that a changing of the guard is occurring.

An Attempt At Expert-dom

The English Premier League season has reached its halfway point and we are still a ways away from crowning a champion. The top four entering this weekend are Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, and Chelsea. The teams currently facing relegation include Bolton, Wigan, and Blackburn. The last couple weeks have seen City and United fall to lesser competition (Sunderland and Blackburn, respectively). We are also beginning to see transfers as we approach the meat of the January transfer window. Last week, United and City faced off in a thrilling FA Cup match that ended in a victory for United, showing that City do not have total control of the league just yet.

Now, I have made predictions in the past, and if you look at our predictions page you will see that I have performed quite admirably (but only in the NFL). I am going to now try my hand at a weekend of matches in the EPL. This weekend seems to have some pretty routine pairings, but we will see what happens. If I have any sort of success in these matches (don’t count on it) I may continue this into the future. Here we go!

Everton at Aston Villa—Landon Donovan and Tim Howard are paired up once again with the Blues needing to show some consistency to be taken seriously. 2-1 Everton.

Fulham at Blackburn—Clint Dempsey is coming off his first Fulham hat trick and Blackburn are riding high after recently beating United. 2-2 tie.

Sunderland at Chelsea—As disappointing as United has played in its losses, Chelsea has been even worse in its debacles. Yet they remain near the top of the table and here is where they can get back in it. 3-1 Chelsea.

Stoke City at Liverpool—This is probably the match of the weekend between the 8^th and 6^th place teams. It should be a thrilling match at Anfield, with Liverpool taking this one. 2-1 Liverpool.

Bolton at Manchester United—Bolton are struggling to stay out of the relegation zone and United have regained confidence after taking down their crosstown nemesis. 3-0 United.

Wolverhampton at Tottenham—This may be the easiest pick of the weekend, as Hotspur are riding a hot-streak and the Wolves again find themselves at the bottom of the table. Apologies for the jinx, Spurs fans. 4-1 Tottenham.

Norwich City at West Brom—Norwich have been a surprise for me as they have been very competitive in their first season back in the EPL. 3-2 Norwich.

Queens Park at Newcastle—Impressive striker Demba Ba has the Magpies on a hot streak as they come off a dominant win against Manchester United to see a somewhat reeling QPR come in. 2-0 Newcastle.

Arsenal at Swansea City—Thierry Henry’s return to his former club was as glorious as could be, as he scored the only goal of the match to give Arsenal an FA Cup win over Leeds. This one will not be as easy, but Arsenal should take it against a hard-working Swansea squad. 1-0 Arsenal.

Manchester City at Wigan—City have been an enigma the last month, losing games (against United and Sunderland) that they would have won handily in October. Do not be fooled, they are still the favorite and should take this one. 4-2 City.

So there you have it. My first attempt at predicting a weekend of matchups in the EPL. If I am successful, you can consider me at the ranks of all the “experts”. But if not, it was all in jest. Happy footballing!