And...the NY/NJ Sellouts are out of MLS Cup

History Repeats itself: The State of US Soccer in 2010 before the Fall Friendlies

We're baaaaaaaccccckkkkk.

Fall (or autumn if you prefer you silly Brits) is finally here and with it comes nicer weather for me because 100F weather in Detroit isn't really my cup of tea but more importantly it brings a slew of US soccer friendlies.

USA fans are on the edge of their seats as the team who despite horrible tactical decisions that almost lost them every game at the World Cup in 2010 and saw them go out prematurely to Ghana is ready to get back into action against two teams who frankly, at home they should beat.

Every US fan is ready to see their new manage....

With the new look tea...

With interesting oppone...

Ok, with the same old shit except Jermaine Jones might actually play this time.

American soccer, mainly Sunil Gulati, or as I lovingly call him Gooflati has yet again lost the plot.

There is a famous phrase that's used that I think Gooflati doesn't really get.

The phrase of course is "history repeats itself".

Now, this phrase as you well know is used in a negative way, not a positive way. When this phrase is used, it's to say you should look at the historical record, see how things went wrong and try to avoid them in the future.

Unfortunately for us Gooflati I believe feels that he has to adhere to this old adage because clearly qualifying for the World Cup and then fucking up constantly is what a country who is primed for success should be doing.

Gooflati lecturing on how to ruin teams

There is a cognitive disconnect here. This is a man who has made bad decision after bad decision and yet gets unanimously voted in again as head of soccer in the US? It seems its the one job in the country where you can have a bad performance and still get re-hired.

He started out with ruining a successful Metrostars (for you new soccer fans, that's the team that NY/NJ had before they sold out to Redbull, alienated their fan base, spit in the face of New Jersey etc etc and became the NY Sellouts).

New York you'll be surprised to know was actually drawing in large crowds and was being run fairly well until this muppet came in and made them the running joke in the league.

Then after that disaster he took over the US national team, which is what runs US soccer in this country. Interest lives and dies with the national team.

The reason for ESPN picking up soccer on a more regular basis was not the MLS, it was the success of the national team who finally got its act together when they had to host the World Cup in 1994.

The goal then became qualifying for the World Cup, which at that time made sense since the groundwork of producing a consistent national team was at the forefront.

Fast forward years later when the US has had some decent World Cup runs (2002, 2010), has most of its premier players playing in Europe, and has a league to develop its younger talents and you think the goal would change.

However, Gooflati was quoted as saying "Our goal is to qualify for the WC" (this was in the lead up to 2010).

So....the goal is the exact same as it was in 1990? In 20 years the goal is the same despite the US qualifying for the WC easily every time since they took the modern sport seriously, won the CONCACAF major tournament the Gold Cup 4 times (as many as Mexico in the same time period) and was the runner up 3 times.

When US soccer took the competition seriously it took 4th in the Copa America, the premier Conmebol competition (Yeah, Brazil, Argentina their feckin conference), which Gooflati completely disrespected that entire federation by sending a horrible team in 2007 after turning down bids from them from 1996-2006. Our squad was then summarily embarrassed, and our country being embarrassed apparently means nothing to Gooflati as he was the one who made sure the a USA C team went up against the best teams in South America.

Frankly stated, but the US and Mexico should qualify for the World Cup every single go around. It sounds arrogant, but if you look at the numbers in a book like Soccernomics something that on paper is easily found out using statistics.

CONCACAF is improving, there are tough games and most of the other teams in the region are improving every year, but with their resources, neither team should fail to qualify for a tournament unless severe investment is made in the Caribbean and Central America, something that I don't see happening.

Yet, this is the goal?

How shortsighted is that?

I think my goal is to breathe today. That's essentially the bar Gooflati is putting up. An easy hurdle so he and the US soccer good ole boy network can give themselves a pat on the back for.

Wake the fuck up. This isn't Guadeloupe, this isn't Jamaica, this is the "sleeping giant" waiting to be awakened.

Instead of moving forward, Gooflati feeds US soccer its share of sleeping pills with his bad decisions, his refusal for change in order to improve, and the fact he will only take on managers who are essentially "Yes Men".

A Celtic commentator and member of the Lisbon Lions Jim Craig once said that really the shelf life for a manager should be a maximum of four years, unless they are one of those once in a lifetime sort of guys like Jock Stein, Sir Alex Ferguson, Shankly and the like.

Is Bob Bradley that? Is Bruce Arena that?

No.

There is no doubt Arena did a rather superb job with the team in 2002, a German handball away from perhaps going to the Semifinals, where the US hasn't been since the World Cup started in 1930.

He brought in 40 new players into the US squad pool, which no one had done up to that time.

One could see how he got an extension to his deal, he did everything Gooflati and US soccer wanted. He put the MLS over the National team at times for friendlies. He did the throwaway friendlies playing crap MLS players so teams could say they had an "international" player even though they had no chance of being in the actual squad.

Arena then found himself like so many managers do finding himself tied to his favorites, unwilling to let go and cap new players like he did in the lead up to 2002 and what happened?

The US with some bad play, bad calls and horrific tactics went out in 2006. Ironically to Ghana who put the US to the sword in 2010.

Now, for probably the first time the country seemed deeply interested in a WC not on its shores, as ESPN had record ratings for the 2006 World Cup (even better ones for 2010) and after the tournament it was clear that Arena was done, and the man next in line was Jurgen Klinsmann, a man who using his knowledge he gained from American training techniques completely revamped Germany and almost took them to the final.

Here was a guy who was technically a "foreign" manager, but who with his links with the Galaxy and the fact he lives in the US has knowledge on American soccer. He was as many would say the perfect fit.

However, despite brief press pressure, Gooflati refused to sign Klinsmann because he wanted control to completely revamp (read: for the better) US soccer so it could compete at a higher level.

Gooflati, whose power was now on the line turned him down so he could keep his good ole boy system intact.

Now, in most countries, this wouldn't have happened because the press and fan pressure would have been too much to see the head of a federation turn down this opportunity.

So instead he hired a Bruce Arena clone in Bob Bradley, who in every way is Bruce Arena minus the fact he isn't a self centered asshole.

Now, in 2006 I wanted Bob to be the #2 (perhaps lead the team in 2010 depending on what Klinsmann did).

Instead he got the top job, because it was the best post he could get and he agreed to do whatever Gooflati said.

He did EXACTLY what Arena did (see he is a clone here....) when he was first called into action by calling up if I remember right 50 new players into the US system, but then found his favorites who he continually plays, does the MLS friendlies to hype up their players, which is not the job of a national team manager.

His crowning achievement was the 2009 Confederations Cup where the US lost to Brazil 3-2 in the final. Many point to Bradley's tactics as being why the team lost, despite being up 2-0 at half time.

It was a sign of things to come.

In 2010, the US got out of the group on top, despite Bradley's best efforts to make sure the tactics were horrible enough to lose each game, and then his inexperience showed against Ghana, a team that the US could have gotten past had his moves not been simply put, retarded.

Gooflati again sticking to his adage "history repeats itself" has brief talks with Klinsmann, on which they again don't agree on anything in writing and he then re-hires Bradley without looking for any other managers. He looked at two candidates, just like 2006 all over again.

Needless to say 2014 looks bleak. Bradley. Gooflati. Same old same old. Maybe buying this T-shirt will help me feel better about myself and my country's team....


...because right now there is nothing to look forward to.

Here is the squad for the two games next week:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Steve Cherundolo (Hanover), Clarence Goodson (Start), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham).

Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro), Michael Bradley (Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Brek Shea (FC Dallas).

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Eddie Johnson (Fulham).

As you can see, at least it isn't a shite MLS filled squad, but most of the country's best players.

I love how Parkhurst was the best MLS defender for some time, and only gave away something like 5 fouls in a few seasons (which is unheard of in any league), and hardly got a call up, moved and then never got a call up.

Honestly, had he gone with the Republic of Ireland, he might have already been in their set up.

JJ needs to get in, that's really what I'm looking forward to. Shame I couldn't be at this one as I always go to the games in Chicago, but it's my official boycott match as I hate the direction this team is going.

Match info:

10/9 - USA vs. Poland - 8pm EST on Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision
10/12 - USA vs. Colombia - 8pm EST on ESPN 2 and Galavision

Don't Tread on This.

Article by Celticrugby.

Big Honky Ocho on E:60

Danielle Fornarelli launches the 2010 US World Cup Jersey Sexy Time Style

Safe For Work, but it is a Playboy link...More Photos here.

Charlie Davies is Back.



Rejoice US fans!

Thanks to SBI and The Shin Guardian.

The Yanks are coming. 77 Days.



A highlight to get you pumped if you are a US fan...or get you on our bandwagon if you are looking for a WC team to root for.

This is a fantastic highlight (cheers to Patrick Owen of NaDeadRaibead)...minus the Edu goal against Celtic of course. That could have been edited out.

77 days until USA vs. England. Don't Tread on This.

Big Honky Ocho does the Business.



and that's why he's one of my favorite players. Don't Tread on This.

Big Honky Ocho's wife paints her Kit on

God Bless America's WAGs. Check out SI for 29 more photos. Hopefully the trend continues.

Bethany Dempsey...now we just need BiancaCakes to follow through. Come on Landon.

Women's Soccer in the US becomes more bad ass by the day. Dana White Interested.

By: Celticrugby

Some of you may have heard about the New Mexico defender who employed MMA moves on her BYU opponents last week (if you haven't you have to fucking see this). Now, it seems its spread to the high school fields of Rhode Island.



When will the government act? We may need a federal bill passed to ensure the safety of our women players. Hope. Change. Can that stop brawls? Maybe a girl called Hope could, but the idea of Hope won't.

American(s) Abroad

USA vs. Costa Rica with the Motor City Supporters Club Part II

:30 – Jozy wins a corner to the cheers of the bar. Maybe he and not Donovan will be the first “world class” field player for the US. The jury is still out from a club perspective, but for the Nats he usually does the business.

3 – An early but easy test for Tim Howard to gather up.

4 – Sloppy ass defending from the US, what looks like some foreshadowing and the same type of play we saw against Honduras. Thankfully CR's shot dribbles slowly toward Howard for him to pick it up.

7 – It took seven minutes for the first massive dive from Costa Rica. Hopefully this won't become a theme like it does in many CONCACAF games. I think back to USA/El Salvador when their keeper fell to the ground and rolled around for 8 minutes when he wasn't hurt at all. Nice to see time wasting already beginning.

9 – Conor Casey misses a chance that I might have put away. I knew that Honduras game would lead him to be in this squad, and I was feckin' right. Everyone already begins to groan every time the ball comes near Casey. I am secretly debating whether I'd rather have him in there or Josh Wolff....that's how dire this situation is.

Also in the 9^th minute, all of the #9 signs go up in the crowd in remembrance of Davies who was involved in a life threatening accident. A few people at the Motor City Supporters club printed them out and they hold them up as well in his honor.

10 – Centeno of Costa Rica shoots from point blank range and Howard makes an amazing save. If there is one thing the US does on a world class level (other than have our FA fuck up) it's producing goalkeepers.

14 – Altidore receives a bullshit yellow card, when the Costa Rican player was the one who left his foot in the tackle. Here we go again....CONCACAF refs proving themselves to be worse than the SPL (which, if you don't know is shite).

15 – My full Irish breakfast is finished, and I'm on my second diet Coke now. The caffeine makes me yell louder every time Casey fucks up.

16 – We have a Honduran fan in our presence watching the match because if we win or draw, they qualify over Costa Rica in the Hexagonal stage with Costa Rica forced to take on the fifth placed South American team in a playoff. This leads to several conversations between US fans one being the following:

“Why don't you like Costa Rica more than Honduras?”

“Maybe its because Honduras doesn't throw bags of piss and batteries at our fans and players”.

“Good point”.

20 – Costa Rica's Ruiz scores on an Onyewu misplay where he was completely caught out. The atmosphere in the room goes from hopeful to dismal in a matter of seconds. Our best defense recently was in the Confederations cup with Gooch and DeMerit in the middle and Bocanegra on the left, but due to an eye injury DeMerit wasn't with the team and that goal might not have happened with him in the middle.

0-1 Costa Rica.

22 – The US plays a ball to fucking no one. Hundreds of miles away groans and swear words come from the crowd at Claddagh's Irish pub in Livonia, Michigan.

24 – Oh. My. God. Apparently Ruiz wants to have the game of his life tonight and he has an amazing strike that sails past Howard. No one could have saved that, a piece of world class finishing from the Ticos.

0-2 Costa Rica.

27 – A Donovan free kick on the side of the box is punched away by the Ticos' keeper. The US' best attacking move in some time is all for naught.

28 – A kid at a table near me orders the bangers in mash, which leads to several jokes...the quote of the night “I love sausage in my mouth, especially with white creamy mashed potatoes all over them”.

We're a mature bunch in Livonia. Still, this joke does not rival the penis looking sausage story from Frankenmuth during high school on a German Club field trip...now that one is a doozy.

I'll tell this story, since I'm sure we'll be flooded with emails asking about the German Club Frankenmuth Penis sausage story.

Senior year I was in the German club at my high school. It just so happens that there is an “all German town” called Frankenmuth (also home to the largest Christmas store in the world). They have an authentic German restaurant there known as Zender's. So our club takes a bus up there and we go into Zenders sit down and order food. Scott orders the sausage platter, while the rest of us stick to Zender's “world famous” chicken.

The sausage platter is soon delivered to Scott. On this platter are a variety of choice German sausages. However, as Jim soon points out one looks exactly like a penis and I mean, exactly like one. We all say to Scott “Dude, there is no way you are actually going to eat that are you?”

Scott replies “Of course I am!” to our disgust he takes his fork and cuts into the tip of the penis sausage and then....a massive amount of water and fluid burst from the tip of the sausage and spill all over the table. The force of the penis sausage's fluids were so strong it spun it around several times.

Needless to say, we were all cracking up, and the story is now at legendary status.

The worst part is he actually ate it after that. haha

30 – Costa Rica is now brimming with confidence, toying with their touches outside the US box.

32 – Donovan thinks he's playing gaelic football for Cork and sends a shot over the cross bar. I begin chanting “Sebo! Sebo! Sebo!”. Ach, if you don't support Celtic you may not get that one.

34 – Montero is booked for a challenge on Donovan and the crowd ironically cheers that the ref got one right.

35 – A Costa Rican player is “dying” in the ground. Not booked for feigning injury and time wasting. Which makes a member of the Motor City Supporters club to ask “Why don't they get booked?”.

36 – Donovan has a great passage of play, lifting the ball over the Costa Rican defender after Jozy flicked the ball to him, but Donovan skies the shot wide of the Costa Rican net. Fuck. Things aren't looking good here.

38 – As my third diet coke arrives I yell Conor Casey is a gumpy fuck as he messes up yet another play. Chatter around the bar agrees with me, and one person asks me what a “Gump” is. Why isn't Kenny Cooper playing? Argh.

41 – Jozy's fouled and the US gets a free kick at the top of the box. The shot is deflected and it goes out for a corner.

43 – The US' best chance of the match, but the forwards pass between each other too much and no one decides to be selfish and put one on net....another opportunity wasted.

45 – Another Costa Rican player rolls around in agony trying to stop the US momentum that had been building. This goes on for some time and eventually the added time at the half was about 3:35.

Half – Time to lick wounds and berate our favorite team's play. During this time the Argentina game is also going on, as a member of the club yells out “Maradona's cocaine for everyone!”.

A commercial for FIFA 10 comes out, once again reminding me that I won't get it and that Europe gets it two weeks earlier than us. Bullshit.

One of my favorite commercials rolls...the one with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. I love that one and I'm on my fourth diet coke.

2^nd half begins – People are mulling about now, and the room is now more crowded then when the game started. Some text back and forth with people at the game to try to get the “vibe” of how things are over there, as it doesn't always translate on TV.

49 – Holden flights a shitty cross that sails way over the Costa Rican net.

54 – The inevitable Kenny Cooper discussions begin, when will he get in, and why the fuck didn't he start in the first place. Bradley refuses to make subs at times, and its clear the US is stalling and something needs to change. Benny Feilhaber has dropped out of the match completely, its clear he too needs to go off.

55 – Another cross to the Costa Rican GK. Not going to win a game like this....

58 – More Gumpy jokes about Casey. Ugh. Why is he still in this match?

59 – A low Costa Rican shot from Ruiz is caught by Howard.

61 – Some deft defending from our captain to block a Costa Rican cross. The fans in the bar are getting restless, when will Bradley finally make a move.

62 – José Francisco Torres known as 'El Gringo' in the Mexican Leagues for choosing to play for the US over Mexico (Mexican father, American Mother but born in the United States) comes on for Benny Feilhaber. Who at this point should be called Failhaber.

65 – Bornstein shoots over the bar, and at this point it looks like some fans are trying to sneak out.

67 – Now this is interesting...Robbie “Runs like a chicken with his head cut off” Rogers comes on for Holden. No idea what Bradley is thinking with this one. The decision also seems to boggle the minds of others at the Claddagh Pub.

70 – Bush League defending again and the US are at 6's and 7's at the back.

72 – Rogers crosses the ball into the box, it falls to Donovan who shoots, has the ball parried away, and out of nowhere Michael Bradley slides in and scores a really scrappy goal. The bar erupts in cheers. Maybe our team does have something left.

USA 1, Costa Rica 2

73 – Rogers hits a shot that goes wide of the net.

75 – A lobbed cross is gathered in by the Ticos' keeper.

77 – Rogers heads wide. All hustle no finish.

78 – The old adage from FM comes into play as Gooch boots the ball into row Z.

79 – Kenny Cooper FINALLY comes on for Conor Casey. A standing ovation is in order.

80 – Jozy steals a ball from Costa Rica and rushes toward the goal but shoots it over the net. The tension is growing, and the groans are getting louder with every passing minute.

82 – Gooch's knee buckles going to head the ball out. This is not what we need right now, as he is forced to exit the game through injury, so now the US is down a goal, and now playing with 10 men.

86 – I have no idea what the hell is going on. The Costa Rican coach is going completely apeshit. Costa Rica is time wasting as if their lives depended on it (and they do). I hope the ref adds on a lot of time for all this crap.

89 - The Costa Rican manager and his #2 are forcibly ejected from the game after getting in heated arguments with the 4^th official and trying to time waste, leaving some random trainer as the stand in manager for the rest of the game.

90 – I think this trainer is the GK coach. I try to think back to when I've seen the manager and his #2 ejected in the same match and I can't. All my examples keep coming up in the sport of baseball.

There is 5 minutes of added time.

94 – Not much is happening, but the the US is pressing and putting in some great tackles, while Costa Rica flops and time wastes.

94:30 – Corner kick for the US. Rogers takes it and swings it in...Bornstein gets space enough to get his head on the ball and put it into the goal. Everyone at the pub is on their feet screaming, yelling, hugging and high fiving. What a fucking comeback.

USA 2, Costa Rica 2

95 – The whistle blows,and fireworks light up the night sky in DC. What a finish.

Final thoughts – The US shouldn't have been in this position to begin with. It's been Bradley's tactical ineptitude and poor play that put us here. This game should have been a win, not a come from behind draw like we had in El Salvador in beginning of the Hexagonal qualifying.

These are band-aids that are hiding the real problems. If the US keeps going this way, I fear for how we will do at the World Cup in 2010. Then throw in the fact Davies is out for 2010, and Oguchi Onyewu is out for 6-10 months with a knee injury.

The tests against Slovakia and Denmark might tell us something, or nothing at all. We shall see.

At least we qualified #1 in the Hexagonal stage, although supposedly it won't matter in terms of WC seeding.

American(s) Abroad

USA vs. Costa Rica with the Motor City Supporters Club Part I

By: Celticrugby

Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch. The old adage still holds firm as I exit my house en route to meeting up with the Motor City Supporters club. This time, it also includes IPOD and scallycap which one cannot forget especially with a 20 minute drive ahead of them.

Lock, Stock, and IPOD in tow I head for my car as the sun begins to go down. It's the beginning of fall in South Detroit (which doesn't exist except for in a song by Journey) and a select few are all following a relatively same routine and drive to meet up at Claddagh's Irish Pub in Livonia to watch our national team which already qualified for the World Cup courtesy of a 3-2 win in Honduras that left more questions than answers on the field earlier that week.

The week leading up to this one had been fraught with a bit of controversy. The US game was not being broadcast on cable because the Hondurans sold both the English and Spanish rights to a PPV channel.

What made it worse is that its a PPV channel only available en mass at a bar. It's the same rip off Setanta does to Celtic, Rangers, rugby and Gaelic supporters all across North America, except we all know about their ass raping tactics (you pay $10, $20, or even $25 for the game).

This has never happened with our US national team before, so we were of course all up in arms about how this won't essentially be on “free tv” and how its a fucking farce that CONCACAF allows for these rules in the first place.

What most of us don't know is that the US pulled the same shenanigans on Honduras years ago, when the game here was made PPV, so a lot of them (and our fans too) were denied access. So Honduras figured a bit of how's your father back in our faces for scorn years past wouldn't hurt.

This was the main reason I didn't pay 25 bucks to watch the game with the Motor City Supporters club at some Mexican Restaurant the weekend before.

Part of it was principle as in “Fuck you, I'm not paying because this could spark a trend and you would do it more often” and the second part was that I had maybe sixty dollars in my bank account, and I'd rather eat and watch on a stream than pay to watch at a bar.....a bar that I later found out was fulled with maybe 300 Hondurans, about 9/10s more than what the Motor City group brought.

Tonight however was on ESPN2, and I wanted the full bar experience with fans, so there was only one place to be in the mythical South Detroit (really called “downriver).

And so begins the running diary of the USA/Costa Rica Match.

725pm – Jump into the car, trying to find the right music to get fucking pumped for the game...what does one choose? The US kinda lacks songs, other than those composed by Big Honky Deuce spittin' troof from the boof, or old war songs like “Over There”. Social Distortion, that's the ticket. “Angel's Wings” blasts out of my car windows as I pull out of my parking lot and get onto the highway.

730 pm– The song ends, and I figure, I am going to an Irish bar so I might as well blast some of the Celtic punk. “Miss Success” by the Booze Brothers is next up, and I yell out every time they say “Miss Success is a lovely bitch” and think about how this song eerily parallels our national team success. Is it that? Or is it me making way too much out of a song about some elitist girl this French Irish Punk band is singing about.

734pm – You've got to admit, it seems strangely American to be listening to a band from France playing Irish music, as you drive to an Irish pub to watch the United States national team. The Melting Pot / Salad bowl examples come to mind. Would Irish fans be going to an American pub to watch their team? Would French fans go to Irish pubs to watch theirs? Is this dynamic an American experience? Or is it shared by others around the world.

745pm – Driving just above the speed limit (yeah, I need to renew my license) I get to the exit just as “Over there” by Billy Murray starts blaring through the speakers in my car. One more song (Katie at the Races by the Tossers) and I pull up at the pub, pumped the fuck up ready to take on the world and a full Irish Breakfast.

(Yeah, I'm a breakfast at night person).

747pm - I park the car get out, and step into the pub. My new family awaits in the back in our own special room, with TV and control over the remote.

I greet the few guys that are already there (about four) looks like fashionably late is the flavor of the night. Immediately we talk about the Honduras game, how I missed it, how we were outnumbered like 300 to 1 in the bar.

750pm - Being half Bostonian I order some clam chowda (that's right its feckin' chowda we don't need the -er) to start and we get down to business. Who's starting? C'mon ESPN don't keep us waiting.....

755pm – Our room is filling up and the lineups for the US are announced and here's how we line up:

-----------------------Howard

Cherundolo---Onyewu---Bocanegra----Bornstein

Holden----Feilhaber--------Bradley------Donovan

-----------Casey--------------Altidore

756pm – The Chowda has been completely demolished (still not the best in Michigan, for that its Red Coat Tavern) and I begin to write what will be about eight pages of notes on the game.

I'm not drinking because I have no money in my account, so its diet coke (I'm on my second) and I order the same meal that gave us a win last time...the full Irish Breakfast.

We start bemoaning the fact Conor Casey is actually getting another game. I even go so far to say that I'd rather see Brian Ching start than him because he has more to offer (this is a big consolation on my part given Ching's reputation in my US soccer circles).

Casey, or “Gumpy” as I call him doesn't do much...except smash people. A bit of a Lee Mcculloch type where you wonder how the words “footballer” or “soccer player” could ever be associated with them. However the game before he scored twice against Honduras. Which, I knew would be enough to have Bradley keep selecting him, even if we have better talent that needs games (read: Kenny Cooper).

758pm – The teams emerge out of the tunnel and apparently Costa Rica isn't playing the US today, they are playing McDonald's.

At least I won't have to sit through commercials until half..but this is pretty bad.

8pm – Anthems. I always wonder where our anthem ranks in terms of world anthems. I'm not a massive fan of ours, but there are many that are much worse (England's and West Indies Cricket). Rugby anthems put these to shame anyways.

It's also at this point I realize the team aren't wearing black armbands for the woman who died in the accident involving up and coming US striker Charlie Davies the day before. Davies is now out for 6-12 months, and the US fans had already planned tributes to hold cards of his number 9 up for him during the 9^th minute of the game (it was at this point he was still going through surgeries, and even now there are many to go).

I still wanted to see our country honor Ashley J. Roberta who died though. When Celtic lost a fan who was hit by a car going to the game on a European night, they wore armbands in his honor, and I thought she at least deserved some sort of remembrance.

But, no. The US messes this up too.

My cousin Jen texts me back. She doesn't get ESPN at her house, so she can't watch her bhoy Holden play. Who the hell doesn't get ESPN these days that has a TV?

The room now has more than 20 people in it, with more filtering in ready with their beer orders before kick off.

The game begins.

American(s) Abroad

By: Celticrugby

I sat around awhile debating on what to call this article, or what might be a series of articles chronicling the life and times of an American soccer fan supporting his national team. I ended up settling on “American(s) Abroad” because we (as US soccer fans) are truly aliens in our own country to some extent, especially in regards to the world's most popular sport. Always outnumbered, but not always out sung. That's what I say.

Our experience is a unique one. Most around the world may have had the experience of being an “away fan”. It gives them a buzz to go to some EPL match and sit in the stands in rival territory. However, that's a choice.

You as an Arsenal fan are choosing to go to White Hart Lane and sit and cheer on your team against “the enemy”. Here, it's not a choice. It's reality. You are an away fan. Every game.

Except, this time it's in your country, in your city, and in your stadium. It's a bit of a bizarro universe, and for as much flak as the international media gives United States soccer (Sawker!111) fans I don't think they know what the diehards go through or give them credit for it.

They just slander the fan that doesn't care for the game (like those who prefer one sport to another would do to someone), rather than talk about the supporters who defy international law and go to Cuba for a world cup qualifier because it's their team and they are indeed that passionate to do so.

Do you know what kind of testicular fortitude it takes for an American to go to Cuba? It takes the same kind of fortitude it took some Spartak Moscow fans to go to an away game back in the old Soviet leagues when travel outside of your city was banned.

We're talking serious ramifications. Not, sneaking on a flight to get to Lisbon for a CL Final or jumping a turnstile to get into a game with a slap on a wrist a small fine or maybe a night in the drunk tank, but fines in the tune of thousands of dollars, felonies and jail time.

But of course, we are from the land that calls the sport soccer, and we don't worship it like others think we should, so things like that get overlooked. Instead, stereotypical negatives are shoved down our throats, and our own old white guy sports media even buys into a lot of it (using the same mentality on US soccer fans as other fans and media do abroad).

Despite this never ending cycle of bullshit, as we kids say 'hatin on' our fan base increases, our passion grows and our family gets larger (and some, are beginning to listen).

In my own personal experience I for one am an away fan at pretty much every sporting event I've been to since I moved from Minnesota to Michigan. However, there is a difference being an away fan of an American sport in an American stadium, than it is to be a US soccer fan in a US stadium when you are outnumbered 4 to 1 or 6 to 1 by the opposition and you are “at home”. Entirely different feelings, emotions and a more intense buzz.

At the end of the games against Mexico and Honduras I knew our team couldn't lose, because the walk out of Chicago's Soldier field would be too unbearable to endure. When it's say the Minnesota Twins losing to the Detroit Tigers, you don't get that kind of feeling at all. Does it fucking suck when you lose? Yes, of course. However for me and for at least the sport of soccer, and the US national team is on a completely different plain of intensity, nerves and sometimes pain.

There are some countries that I believe could be in the same boat we are those being Canada and Australia, ones with large immigrant populations but I can only speak for my own.

For any Canucks or Aussies out there, that would like to share with us their experiences please let me know and shoot us an email at: Soccer247blog@gmail.com.

Originally I planned for this to be a running diary of the USA/Costa Rica match, which I watched with the Motor City Supporters Group (a group of Detroit soccer fans who get together for matches I have recently met up with) and I was going to intro it with a bit about what it's like to be “one of us”. It ended up turning into an entirely different article in itself (this one), and one where I could easily ramble on further.

Stay tuned for my running diary of the game that saw the US qualify for in the #1 spot in CONCACAF for the world cup.

I took eight pages of notes, so you'll likely get a kick out of it....or at least a different viewpoint of how fans of other countries around the world support their teams.

Until then...Americans, I think Nike might have it right on this one:


Sometimes a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Take that step and buy into your national team.