Hodge Podge

I'm missing MLS. This weekend was odd without an MLS game on FSC Saturday evening. I did watch the US U-17s against Portugal on Friday and against Brazil on Saturday. The US' number 11--Alfred Koroma--was very good, one to watch out for in the future I think. And I did watch the end of the Everton v Tottenham match today. While I wanted Tottenham to win solely so that they could keep up the pressure on the top of the table, I was glad that Tim Howard was the hero, saving the injury-time penalty.

I also took in both semi-finals and the final of the Women's Division I NCAA soccer tournament, as well as the Men's Division II championship game. Not great quality entertainment, but I enjoy seeing people excited about winning a trophy.

I wonder what the odds are that England beat the US on a dodgy penalty won by Rooney or Gerrard. I suspect pretty good. Despite that suspicion, I am going to predict that if the US does not lose to England, England will win the tournament. That is just how the thunder will be taken out of a US result.

World Cup Draw

All week I've been thinking that the US would end up in a group with England, and low and behold, it happened. What a game that will be! I would love to be in the stadium that day.

As the draw progressed I had the sound down so I don't know if they explained the rules. If so, I missed some critical information because when Ivory Coast came up, I thought they were going to be in the US' group as well, as they couldn't go in Group A with South Africa, Group B just inherited Nigeria for the same reason, and the US was up next in Group C. What a disaster! But then they went to Group H. I guess the procedure was that the first two African teams drawn would go into groups with seeds from South America. So they ended up in Brazil's group, and the US got Algeria. If that is not the reason for what happened, I am at a loss as to why they skipped all the way down to Group H.

Poor Ivory Coast. I think they will make it out of the group at the expense of Portugal, but two tournaments in a row they have no luck in the draw.

And those dodgy, dodgy French. Why does it seem they are destined to make a deep excursion into the later rounds of this competition? Interesting they are in a group with Uruguay, the other team in the tournament after controversy about a goal in their qualification playoff with Costa Rica. Here's hoping that South Africa can pull it together enough to make it to the 2nd round.

Nice to see ESPN's three hours of live coverage. I like the fact that Martin Tyler will be the lead announcer, but the draw will lead to the inevitable complaints of "English bias" when he calls the US v England match. When he was interviewed on the programs today, I thought that he looked a little like Darth Vader without his helmet. Yikes!

I can't wait for this tournament to start. Only seven more months to go!

Hitting the Books

While on my trip to and from New Zealand, I read an excellent book on the history of soccer in the US called "Soccer in a Football World" by David Wangerin. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of this game, whether or not they are specifically interested in the American experience. My only complaint about it is that there were no references provided nor even a short bibliography of additional works in the area. Odd.

I was hoping that one of the several regional Fox Sports channels that I have as part of my cable system would be showing some of today's NCAA soccer playoffs, but none was to be found. Too bad, as it looks like the Boston College v Drake game was a barnstormer, ending 6-4 to Drake and including three goals in a three minute span in the second half. The semifinals and final will be on ESPN2/ESPN U, but it doesn't look like there is any TV coverage of the quarterfinals.

Wish I Were There

Just returned from a glorious trip to New Zealand, where I arrived to the news that the All Whites qualified for the World Cup while I was somewhere over the Pacific. All week radio and television programs were extolling the virtues of both the win and the team, and debating whether or not it would be a turning point for the profile of the sport in New Zealand. Everyday, newspapers had stories--often on the front page--about the same issues, and everywhere there was discussion about what rugby, both domestic and international, needed to do to increase the excitement to the levels of what occurred in the delightfully nicknamed "Cake Tin" stadium in Wellington on November 14. It was interesting to hear all of this from an American perspective, especially as very little of it was cringe-inducing or condescending. I wonder if that day will ever be reached in the US.

As if to bookend this trip in soccer terms, MLS Cup was played while I was somewhere over the Pacific during the return leg of the journey. I picked up a copy of Monday's LA Times to discover a small picture of Beckham and his ludicrous haircut below the fold on the front page and a single story on the front page of the sports section detailing the game. Limited coverage, but I expected little more, especially given the lack of MLS interest I encountered in LAX barely a week earlier. On my way out to New Zealand, I was stuck in LAX while the Houston v LA semifinal was going on. There were only two TVs in the terminal and both of them were on an LA Lakers game. For some reason I thought I'd be able to watch some of the game while I was in the airport. Turns out I was wrong.

Which reminds me, we'll know that MLS is making progress when crap related to local MLS teams is sold at roadside travel centers and in airports. Nothing connected to LA Galaxy or Chivas USA was to be found in my corner of LAX. When Columbus were MLS League and League Cup champions last year, none of the many travel centers along the Ohio Turnpike had any Crew gear for sale. Plenty of sports related merchandise was available, but none of it was remotely related to the championship team based in their own state.

MLS Cup First Round

I must say that I am enjoying the first round of the MLS Cup so far. Each of the games has been entertaining, with the possible exception of most of the Chicago v New England game in Massachusetts. It would have helped if people were actually in the stands. I have experienced first hand the factors that can dissuade people from going to New England games: the stadium is about an hour away from downtown Boston with good traffic (much longer when traffic is bad), all New England home games are available on local TV, and for the game in question the weather was on the cold side. The incentive to drag oneself to the stadium on a cold New England day when you can stay in your warm home and watch the same game may be lacking for many. I still don't understand why MLS doesn't have local TV blackouts when games don't sell out, like the bigger sports leagues in this country.

This weekend may be the last time that Blanco and/or Beckham plays in MLS. I am surprised that more is not being made of this. I suspect that both LA and Chicago will make it through, but TV usually doesn't miss a chance to hype an event by saying that it may be the last time you can see it.

Elsewhere, as a New Mexico soccer supporter, I am embarrassed about what happened in the UNM women's game against BYU this week. This nonsense even made it to BBC's World Football Phone-In this morning. Nice one, number 15.

In happier news, it was great to see that Beasley made an appearance for Rangers today. Now its Edu's turn to make a return to action.

First Radio Now Television

After some searching, I was able to find what I believe to be the Honduran TV coverage of the end of the Costa Rica v US match here. Great stuff!

Costa Rica 2 USA 2: CONCACAF Coronary

Astonishing scenes in RFK, San Salvador and Tegucigalpa last night. What an amazing way to wrap up CONCACAF qualifying (excepting, of course, Costa Rica's two match playoff with Uruguay in November). Such drama. Such swings of emotion.

Bornstein's last minute equalizer was of obvious importance to both Costa Rica and Honduras, but I can't help but think how ridiculous things would have been if Pavon converts the penalty to make it 3-3 in Honduras on Saturday. If he had, Bornstein's last second goal would have dragged the US--not Honduras--into the automatic qualification spots at the expense of Costa Rica. I think I would have fallen over dead from excitement. Or sounded like these guys.

Too bad Casey couldn't convert his wide-open 9th minute chance. That would have been a poignant if fortuitous tribute to the fallen Charlie Davies.

For me, the good from this final qualifying match is the US getting out of RFK with no one getting sent off (and thus suspended from the first game in South Africa) and Honduras making South Africa after that nation's entirely decent treatment of the US following the match on Saturday. The bad of course is Onyewu's injury and the devastating injuries to Davies. Unfortunately, the bad far out-weighs the good.

I never thought that would be the case in a week that the US qualified for a World Cup.