RCU Crushed By CFC, NPSL Final Four Field Set

RCU Falls Hard 4:0 In Front Of Record Crowd

Rocket City United didn't start well on Saturday night by giving up a goal in the 3rd minute.  It didn't get better from there.  A record crowd of 5, 137 fans saw Chattanooga FC run away with a 4:0 win.  The attendance was the largest ever crowd in NPSL history and gives CFC an average crowd of nearly 4,400 for the 2010 season.

The game was end to end from the opening as both teams traded chances, but CFC converted their chances.  In the 3rd minute, CFC forward Irvin Espinal's angled shot deflected off RCU defender Tom Winspear's trailing leg and nestled into the far corner of the net.  RCU tried to battle back and despite some good possession play from RCU, they could not translate that possession into goals.  CFC took advantage of poor giveaways in the midfield to strike quickly catch RCU on the counter attack.  In the 29th minuet, one such giveaway exposed the RCU central defense and CFC forward Luis Salazar calmly beat Michael Gustavson for the 2:0 halftime lead.

Another midfield giveaway led to the third goal in the 53rd minute, when Drew Courtney received a gift-wrapped chance when the ball fell to his feet after Gustavson's punched clearance deflected off an RCU defender back.  Courtney emphatically stroked the ball into the open net from 2 feet.

RCU kept battling, but it wouldn't be their night as in the 70th minute Alexi Munro worked some magic to get the ball to the end line and slotted it back to the onrushing Andrew Nkurunungi who side-footed home, but the near sided (and perhaps nearsighted) AR judged wrongly and raised his flag for offside.

Shortly thereafter, CFC capped their night with a strong solo effort from Thomas Clark who muscled off a defender and the goalkeeper for the final goal of the night.


NPSL Final Four Teams Set

The other regional championships in the NPSL came down to the action during the final weekend.  Here's a brief recap of how the teams joining Chattanooga FC in the Final Four qualified.

Midwest Region: Madison 56ers
From the Madison 56ers website:
The Madison 56ers ended their regular season play with two victories to clinch the NPSL Midwest Championship this weekend finishing with an 8-2 record. After defeating the Minnesota Kings FC on Saturday 4-0, the 56ers finished off the season with a 2-1 victory over the St. Paul Twin Stars Sunday afternoon.

Northeast Region: FC Sonic Lehigh Valley
From the Morning Call:
FC Sonic had talent when it was needed and luck when talent wasn't enough.

The Lehigh Valley chapter of the National Premiere Soccer League defeated its toughest opponent of the season in the New York Red Bulls, a U23 development team affiliated with the MLS club of the same name.

It was Joe Sales' goal — coming with just six minutes left in the game — that gave FC Sonic the 3-2 win...

Northwest Region: Sacramento Gold FC
From Sacramento Gold Facebook page:
It's on to the National Premier Soccer League championship playoffs for the Gold (9-2-1) after defeating San Diego Boca 3-2 Sunday night in a Nortthwest division-elimination final at River City High School. Foward Manolo Pina had both of his Sacramento goals in the first half. He now leads all NPSL scorers with... 15 goals despite missing the final three games of the regular season with a fractured cheek. San Diego (5-3-3) finished the season 0-3 against the Gold. Ernesto Carranza also scored for the Gold. Anthony Chimienti had two assists.

Minor League Soccer, World Cup Onion-style,

Reshaping US Minor League Soccer

Brian Quarstad from Inside Minnesota Soccer has posted a four-part series on the future of minor league soccer in the USA.  The story focuses mostly on second division professional soccer which is currently in turmoil with two ownership groups, USL and NASL, competing for legitimacy off the field while competing on the field in a interim league being run by the US Soccer Federation, but it also questions how the overall structure of the lower divisions of soccer in the US (including the NPSL in which Rocket City United plays).  

If you are a soccer fan in the USA, this series is well worth the read.  The timing is right for a reshaping of the soccer infrastructure in the USA to get control of player development away from the youth club focus and into a professionalized structure, but before that can happen the professional structure itself needs stability.

Part of the solution to provide stability seems to be an effort to keep travel costs down by regionalizing the lower professional leagues.   This would to take a page from the NPSL who currently have 4 regions and intends to expand into more regions in the future.  The regions are comprised of teams who are geographically proximate enough to allow them to travel without a tremendous cost associated.  The author provides a list of cities that may support the hypothetical regions, including Huntsville.


The Onion's Highlights of the World Cup

The humor news organization, the Onion, has released their list of highlights of the World Cup.  My favorite:

"Portugal scores 7 goals against North Korea after the goalkeeper makes a break for it, dashes into the crowd, runs up the stairs, and jumps over the side of the stadium."

Atlanta Still Being Considered For MLS Expansion

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes to say that an unnamed EPL team is currently looking to invest in an expansion MLS team and is considering Atlanta as one of the markets for the team.  Ho-hum... I wouldn't get too excited about this.  This rumor seems to crops up every summer when an EPL club comes to the States to play an exhibition match.  And guess what?  Manchester City will play Club America in Atlanta in a few weeks at the Georgia Dome. 

RCU Travel To Chattanooga To Face New Champs

Rocket City United will make their way up Route 72 to Chattanooga tomorrow night for their regular season finale where they'll take on the newly crowned NPSL Southeast Region champion in front of a raucous crowd expected to reach nearly 4,000 at Finley Stadium.  Chattanooga FC locked up the title with a 3:2 win over Pumas last weekend and booked their ticket to the NPSL Final Four to be hosted by RCU at the Madison City Schools Stadium from July 29-31 .

Chattanooga's hopes of an NPSL championship took a major hit, however, as star forward Chris Ochieng suffered a broken ankle during training Thursday night.  Ochieng has been a big part in the success of CFC this year scoring 5 of the Blue's 15 total goals.  The team will now have the RCU match and an exhibition match against MLS club DC United's Under 20 squad to work on the strike partnership of local Chattanooga players Luis Salazar and Ivin Espinal before the NPSL Final Four.

In the meantime, RCU will travel up to Finley Stadium hoping to remain unbeaten against CFC, but will face a Chattanooga team that is intent on changing the recent history.  “Rocket City is consistently a tough opponent for us,” CFC coach Brian Crossman told the CFC website. “We’ve never beaten them before, so our guys are pretty motivated for this one.”

If you've never gone to an RCU away match, this would be the one to attend.  RCU's traveling contingent will be meeting prior to the match at the Big River Grille (222 Broad St. next to the aquarium) for food and drinks at 5:30pm Eastern.  If you can't make it to Chattanooga, you can follow the action on Chattanooga's ESPN affiliate, 105.1 The Zone.  Follow the link and click the the listen live button to hear John Moran and myself join a true radio professional, Nick Bonsanto, call the came.  The game kicks off at 6PM Central.

Finely Stadium before kick-off.  Big-time atmosphere!

Finley Stadium is the best atmosphere in the NPSL with a rowdy bunch of supporters who consistently sing and beer stands in the seating area to provide the consumer a view of the action while they wait to be served.  Chattanooga leads the league in attendance, averaging over 3,000 per match and would like to get over 5,000 for the RCU match.  Chattanooga's NBC affiliate WRCB a nice little video of what you can expect at the game on Saturday.

World Cup Revisited

The Final

Zonal Marking does a great job of breaking down the tactics of pressing in the Final.  The most interesting tidbit to me was the fact that the most common passing combination in the first half for the Netherlands was Mathijsen and Stekelenburg  (the Dutch center back and goalkeeper).  That's not a good stat for an attacking team.


Overall Records of the US

Climbing the Ladder has an interesting look at the Yanks' win-loss record and the teams they beat/lost to over the World Cup qualifying cycles in the modern era (1990 to present).  It gives you a good look at just how the team has gotten better.  Take a real close look at the opponents in recent years and in which columns they are located.  


ESPN Announcers

The Soccer America's resident curmudgeon, Paul Gardner, writes to tell us just how bad ESPN's British announcers were and they're "disrespect" for the American audience.  For the most part, I watched the Univision feed online.  So, I only watched a few of the ESPN broadcasts.  However, I wasn't blown away by them.


Now, I certainly know that commentating is much harder than it appears, but I was also disappointed with the supposed best English language broadcasters in the world.   For me, I thought Ian Drake was very good. Martin Tyler was just OK; maybe he was just over hyped or maybe it was his understated delivery, but he just seemed tired to me.  He was certainly lacking the enthusiasm that a real "football" person would have when watching the World Cup live. 

British-Nigerian Efan Ekoku was horrible.  Honestly, ESPN couldn't get a better color guy than this?!  He showed no understanding of the game outside of the British Isles, and this, from a supposed African soccer expert. And I hate to agree with Gardner on anything, but he is right on when he says that many of the commentators have no clue when it comes to the actual rules of the game (excluding Tyler, who seems to know his laws of the game.   

One more thing...  I absolutely loved the pre-game and post-game crews.  It was good entertainment sprinkled in with good analysis.  They had a lot of controversial figures saying controversial things and then they had Juergen Klinsmann and Roberto Martinez sprinkle in great insights.  Excellent stuff!

All-Stars: NPSL and High School

NPSL All-stars to take on RCU

Rocket City United will have one more home game after all.  They fell short in their attempt to qualify for the NPSL Final Four, but they will take part in the action on the field during the Soccer Wars Festival by facing the NPSL All-Stars on Friday, July 30.


NPSL Final Four Qualifying

In other Soccer Wars news, Chattanooga FC is the only team to have qualified for the NPSL Final Four so far by winning the Southeast Region Championship.  I've broken down the other regional qualifying campaigns over at the NPSL Insider blog here.


AHSAA All-Stars

The South All-stars came from behind to score 2 second half goals for the 3:2 win over the girls from the North at the John Hunt Soccer Stadium last night.  In the nightcap, the North All-Stars crushed the South 7:1 in the boys match.

Local Happenings: RCU, AHSAA All-stars, Women Wanted, Decatur

Now that the World Cup is over, it's back to the regular life, and back to a more local soccer focus for PWT-blog.

RCU Thumps Atlanta FC 5:1

After learning that they would not return to the NPSL Final Four, Rocket City United took out its frustrations on Atlanta FC with a 5:1 victory.  Chattanooga FC had already claimed the Southeast Region Championship with a 3:2 win at Pumas on Saturday night, but that only seemed to spur RCU's offensive firepower as Andrew Nkurunungi's hat trick paced RCU.  Late goals by Norbert Webley and Calvin Mbata finished off the scoring for RCU.

RCU will now prepare for its season finale when it takes on the newly crowned champions next Saturday in Chattanooga.  My broadcast partner, John Moran, and I will be on hand to call the game for Chattanooga's ESPN Radio, 105.1 The Zone.  If you have the chance, I highly encourage you to travel up to Finley Stadium to take in this match.  The crowd and atmosphere are top class.


AHSAA All-star Games Tonight

The best high school players in the state will take the field tonight at John Hunt Soccer Stadium for the AHSAA All-star Sports Week.  The Girls game will be at 5PM, followed by the Boys game at 7PM.


Women Wanted For The RCI and HASL

The organizers of the Rocket City Invitational soccer tournament are looking for women players to complete a four team Women's divsion.  Adult female players can sign up as individuals and will be placed on teams for the 6 aside games.  If the tournament is a success, there is interest from HASL in starting a women's division.  Now's your chance ladies!  And gentlemen, if you know any women who may be interested in playing have them follow this link to register a team or individual.


Decatur Is Looking For More Soccer

Here's an interesting article Decatur's Jack Allen Soccer Complex and the economic impact that it brings to the city.  It looks like they'd like to bring more high-profile soccer to the area.  Cool!

World Cup: Watch Parties, Brazil 2014, and Refs Missed 4% of Calls

World Cup Finals:  Where you watching?

 
There will be new blood in the royal lineage of World Cup winners.  That, to me, is a fitting end to what I think was a terrific World Cup.  There have been so many intriguing matches, controversies, and wonder goals.   I can't wait to see what the final has in store for us.

While I'll be watching from the comfort of my living room, I've heard of two specific groups getting together to watch the match at Knucklehead's and The Stations 2.  Where are you watching the game?


Getting Excited for 2014

This World Cup isn't even over and I'm already excited for the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil.  I've already hit my Brazilian friends up for places to crash while I take in the matches down in the land of samba. 

World Cup Refereeing

I have one last comment to make about the refereeing at this World Cup.  You would think that with the amount of high profile gaffes committed by multiple referees in this year's tournament, FIFA would be low-key about the quality of the "men in the middle." But no, that's not their style.  FIFA's head of refereeing Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda held a press conference to tell us that after analysis of the matches in the world cup 96% of the "decisions" were correct.  Hmm, that just leaves 4% where the screwed up royally!  :)

I sympathize greatly with the referees, and that's why I fully support goal line technology, the addition of goal mouth referees, and the video review of every goal scored in big-time first division leagues and tournaments.  This is big business and big entertainment.  These changes can only help the guys with the whistles get it right.

RCU Will Know Their Fate When They Face Atlanta On Sunday

Rocket City United's match against Atlanta FC has been pushed back one day from Saturday night to Sunday at 7:30PM at Hoskyn Stadium in suburban Atlanta.  The change allows Atlanta FC to host a make-up match with FC Tulsa on Saturday.  The change will also allow RCU to know Saturday night's NPSL results and if they will still have a chance to qualify for the NPSL Final Four which the club will be hosting at the Madison City Schools Stadium from July 29-31. 

Atlanta (0-1-4, 1 pt.) are coming off a stinging 6:1 defeat at home against Pumas last Saturday.  Perhaps the absence of their coach, Ricardo Montoya, who has been in South Africa coaching a US team in the FIFA Football for Hope Festival for much of the season.
 

Things are getting interesting in the NPSL Southeast Region table.  Due to some early season game postponements, the current NPSL table is a little deceiving.   Four of the five teams remain mathematically in the hunt, but Chattanooga is squarely in the driver's seat.  CFC (4-2-0, 14 pts.) sits on top, but RCU (2-3-1, 9 pts.) trails by 5 points with 2 games left to play for each team.  Pumas FC (2-1-2, 7 pts.) and FC Tulsa (1-1-2, 4 pts.) are still not eliminated and have extra matches in which to make up the difference. 

If CFC drops points to Pumas FC in Birmingham on Saturday night, RCU will know that a win over Atlanta on Sunday night will go a long way in keeping them in the hunt for the Final Four and will set up what could be a winner-take-all match between CFC and RCU in Chattanooga on July 17th.  However, a CFC win on Saturday night in Birmingham will clinch the Southeast Region title for the Blues and the spot in the NPSL Final Four.

RCU Ties Tulsa In Last Home Game Of Regular Season

Despite dominating the second half, Rocket City United relinquished a one goal lead after giving up a late penalty to split the points with FC Tulsa in RCU's final home game of the season.  After a scoreless first half, Brian Kimbugwe's 54th minute header from a Jacob Letsholo free kick service beat the Tulsa goalkeeper to the near post as nearly 850 spectators watched on.

RCU continued to apply pressure while looking for an insurance goal, but Tulsa would equalize during one of Tulsa's few forays into the attacking third in the second half.   In the 72nd minute, a mistimed tackle in the penalty area by Jacob Letsholo left the referee no choice but to award a penalty.  Tulsa's Ernesto Marquez sent RCU goalkeeper Tyler Early the wrong way for the equalizer from the spot. 

My broadcast partner, John Moran, interviews RCU GK Tyler Early following the disappointing 1:1 draw.

RCU applied more pressure that led to Tulsa's Miguel Peralta's ejection after a second bookable offense in the 77th minute.  However, RCU could not capitalize on the 13 minutes of numerical advantage as both Andrew Nkurunungi and Brian Kimbugwe had good looks at goal without success.  Substitute Colby Childress laid a nice one-time pass back for Nkurunungi who missed the target from just outside the area, while shortly thereafter Kimbugwe's header from a poor Tulsa clearance crashed against the crossbar.  That was as close as RCU would get to the game-winner and the match ended with a 1:1 scoreline.

RCU must now win next week at Atlanta and hope for that either Tulsa or Birmingham can steal points from Chattanooga in the coming week to set up a showdown for the NPSL Southeast Region Championship and a place in the NPSL Final Four when RCU travel up to Chattanooga on July 17th.

Saves of the Tournament

Did you see those two incredible saves yesterday?  In both of yesterday's games the ball was arcing toward the net when out of nowhere came a hand to swat the ball away.  Both stops are being mentioned as the save of the tournament.  Yet, only one will be registered as a legitimate save in the stats book. 

It's rare that saves are the bigger talking points than goals in games, but both of yesterdays saves are worthy.

In the first match of the day, Brazil had already scored an early, typical Brazilian goal, filled with panache and skill, and it looked as if they were about to score another.  Then, in the 30th minute, Robinho battled through two challengers yet somehow got the ball to Luis Fabiano who one-timed a backheel into Kaka's path.  Kaka did what Kaka does, whipping a wicked, curling shot headed for the far corner.  Rio was already celebrating their trip to the semifinals when Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg did his best Plastic Man impression, somehow stretching his arm to beyond normal length to palm the ball away.  It was simply a world class save and one that set the table for the second half come from behind dramatics from the Netherlands. 

 

 World class save by Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg 

The second save was more controversial, but doubtlessly more important to the outcome of the match in which it occurred.   In the 120th minute, Ghana and Uruguay were headed toward PKs, when Ghana wins a free kick with seconds left.  The ensuing free kick leads to a few moments of pandemonium in the area (was Stephen Appiah offside?) culminating in a double-handed goal line punch by Uruguay's diminutive forward Luis Suarez that prevented a Ghanaian goal that would have seen them into the semifinals.

Goal line illegal save by Luis Suarez

It appeared that the save may have only delayed the game winning goal from Ghana a few seconds as the referee was absolute in his judgement to send off Suarez and award a penalty to Ghana.  However, in the closest thing to a walk-off homerun opportunity that soccer can provide, Gyan crashed the ball off the crossbar to allow La Celeste a second life in the PKs.  The Uruguayans would not waste the gift from the soccer gods, and cruelly for the Africans, they went down to two legitimate penalty saves from the Uruguayan goalkeeper.  BTW, how about the cojones on Sebastian Abreu to chip the winning PK down the middle?!

No doubt about it, the Suarez save was an illegal play, and FIFA is reviewing the play to see if the mandatory one game suspension should be extended (Which leads me to ask, if FIFA can review this play, why can't they review dives and all of the other nefarious nonsense that goes on during a match?).  As for whether Suarez should be castigated for what some are calling the Hand of Satan (really?), it's a fascinating ethical debate, and I'm sure the answer lies in whose team you support.

As a neutral, I couldn't think of a more exciting way to end a match.  It was Hollywood type stuff.  Incredible.  Let's hope the World Cup will have a few more surprises for us.

RCU Look To Keep Pace In Home Finale

Rocket City United will be looking for the full three points when it hosts FC Tulsa in RCU's final home match of the 2010 regular season on Saturday night.  RCU could go top of the NPSL Southeast Region standings with a win over the Oklahoma club, leading to an exciting final few weeks the NPSL Southeast Region.  Both RCU and Chattanooga FC, who will also face FC Tulsa on Sunday, will be battling neck and neck for the top spot that may culminate in a de facto championship match on July 17, when CFC hosts RCU in Chattanooga.

Coach Desmond Armstrong is not looking past this weekend's opponents, however.  RCU will be hoping to exact a measure of revenge over FC Tulsa after RCU fell in their first meeting under difficult circumstances.  RCU will have the services of dangerous forward Andrew Nkurunungi, who did not play in the trip to Tulsa.

Armstrong Previews FC Tulsa Home Match

Kickoff is at 7:30 PM at the Madison City Schools Stadium.

ANALYZING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE 2010 USA WORLD CUP TEAM

Friend of the Perfectly Weighted Through Blog and former RCU coach Greg Petersen has done it again.  He has provided us with an in-depth analysis of the USA's World Cup performance and the state of soccer in the US.  Enjoy!

Greg Petersen

The 2010 USA World Cup Team just finished their run in the 2010 World Cup with a 1-2 defeat to Ghana in a second round match. Anyone who has watched this World Cup knows there were some scintillating performances and wonderful moments by the USA team and certain individuals. At the same time, however, there where some glaringly consistent deficiencies throughout tournament that not only hurt the US in their final match against Ghana, but haunted them through the whole tournament. It also exposed some major areas in our country’s development that need to be changed and improved dramatically in order to improve our status in the international football world. Don’t get me wrong, there where some big positives that took place on the field, and even bigger positives off the field, but the reality is we are not where we could be and definitely not at the lofty position sometimes the media hype would have us.

Analyzing Group C:

Prior to the World Cup, England and the USA were favorites to move on to 2nd round knockout play, which both countries did. But as we saw, it was not easy for either country to advance. In reality this was not a strong group, but a difficult one because all four teams where capable of competing against each other. It was very naïve to think that Slovenia and Algeria would be walkovers, and as both countries demonstrated, they were not! England, promoted as one of the top teams in the tournament, was very poor. Surprising concerning their qualification play and the discipline Head Coach Capello seemed to instill within the squad. Their performance has raised serious questions concerning the development and status of English players not only within their own country, but also on the international stage.

Analyzing USA Play in the 1st Round:

USA vs. England:

There was a lot of hype about this game, but the highlight of this match was a blunder by England’s goalkeeper Robert Green. In reality the USA was fortunate to get a point here. This match also started the pattern for the USA of giving up early goals in the tournament and showcased one this team’s consistent problem areas: scoring. Green’s save on Jozy Altidore in the second half was the USA's only true opportunity of the night and the start of many missed chances for the USA squad during the tournament. There where some outstanding performances in this match for the USA, for example Tim Howard’s play on the night was outstanding. Along with England’s poor decisions, especially in the second half, Howard was the reason England did not score another goal. Steve Cherundolo dominated all duels on the opponents left flank and his play that night was the beginning of a very solid performance from him in the first round. Everyone touted the USA's ability to neutralize Wayne Rooney, but in reality it was Rooney and the rest of the English players who neutralized themselves. It was England’s decision, not ours, that earned USA the point this night.

USA vs. Slovenia:

While the USA was favored to win this match, I did not share these sentiments. Since Slovenia had beaten Russia in a playoff to qualify for the World Cup and showed they have a very stingy defense, I saw this game as an uphill climb for Team USA. As we saw, Slovenia was a much better team than many people thought in the USA, scoring 2 goals in the first half, one of which was another early goal conceded by the US, demonstrating the USA's defensive frailty and organization problems. It also was the beginning of questionable tactics used by USA Head Coach Bob Bradley. Bradley had Robbie Findley start as a striker, a questionable surprise starter despite starting against England. Central midfielder Jose Torres was also in the starting squad against Slovenia. Both players performed below the level of play. To Bradley’s credit he recognized this and quickly made substitutions, Maurice Edu for Torres in midfield and Benny Feilhaber for Findley. This pushed Clint Dempsey up top with Altidore and Feilhaber took over Dempsey’s role in midfield. These adjustments would set up one of the greatest comebacks in the history of World Cup play and demonstrated a character in a group of players you rarely see in any sports team. As we know, Landon Donovan scored the first goal. I’m still wondering what the Slovenian goalkeeper was doing here but give full credit to Donovan for punishing slipping defenders and a goalkeeper who seemed more worried about his face then stopping the ball. The goal was as special as it was unique. It was also very important, maybe more important than any other goal in the tournament. Without it, all other goals possibly would not have mattered. The 2nd USA goal scored by Michael Bradley was a very nice goal, but if you look at the replay, the key is Bradley’s intelligent running off the ball, which was even more impressive than his quality finish. While the Slovenian players, especially their midfielders, were caught ball-watching Donovan’s quality service into Altidore, Bradley took full advantage of the situation by running completely unmarked into the Slovenia’s goal box. Also Altidore deserves credit for winning the duel in the air. He might never be a David Villa. He may never be a Brian McBride, as Altidore missed a lot of goal scoring opportunities in this tournament, but he was involved and responsible for some very important goals for this team. As we know, the next goal the USA scored in this match was called back in very controversial fashion, but as the tournament progressed, this call would be one of many poor or missed calls by the referees. It's unfortunate to have a call affect such a special second half performance by the USA squad.

USA vs. Algeria:

Algeria was supposedly weakest team in Group C, but I knew during my broadcasting of 2010 African Cup of Nations, if Algeria could keep their composure, they would be a very worthy opponent. They were a team that was well organized, possessed the ball well, played with purpose and understanding within them, had great endurance, and rose to occasion against tough challenges as they demonstrated against the Ivory Coast at the 2010 African Cup of Nations. Knowing this, their results in their first 2 matches in the tournament did not surprise me at all. Defensively they were very well organized, if it was not for a goalkeeping blunder, Algeria probably gets a point against Slovenia. The obvious challenge for them was scoring. Against the highly favored USA, Algeria almost met that challenge in the beginning minutes of the match, when one of their players volleyed a ball that was denied by the crossbar. This saved the USA from giving up another early goal, and would be one of the few chances Algeria would have the remainder of the night, even though Algeria was a not pushover at all in this match. The truth is this is a match the USA should have put away much earlier than it did. Once again the Americans relied on late Landon Donovan heroics to score in the last 2 minutes of the match. Yes it was dramatic and made a lot people happy, but it did not take away the fact that the USA had really struggled to finish their opportunities in this match and the tournament as a whole. Even though a goal by Dempsey was wrongly called off side by the linesman, the euphoria of Donovan’s goal also hid that the fact USA was also only 2 minutes away from sending American soccer back to the Dark Ages.


Analyzing the 2nd Round Match:

USA vs. Ghana:

Ghana was the only African nation in this World Cup to make it to the 2nd round. As everyone saw in their group play, Ghana, one of the youngest and fastest teams in the tournament, were incredibly well organized defensively, giving up few goals, and playing a calm and highly technically organized possession game. Goals, other than penalties, seemed to be Ghana’s biggest obstacle.  Against the USA this obstacle was removed early in this match. Ghana’s midfield was superior, physically dominating duels and literally stripping the USA midfielders of the ball numerous times. One of those times cost the USA a goal, again in the early stages of the match. Ricardo Clark, who was the USA midfielder who was dispossessed leading to the goal, was a questionable starter. Again USA Head Coach Bradley recognized quickly that Clark needed to come out and subbed him with Maurice Edu around the 30th minute. Landon Donovan tied the game up in the second half, but Ghana would score the winner in the first overtime. This game exemplified the same characteristics that haunted the USA throughout the tournament: the inability to score, questionable tactics by the Head Coach, average technical abilities, and substantial defensive liabilities and disorganization. No question the game’s result could have been different, but the USA’s ability to finish its scoring opportunities was not only negated by the outstanding play of Ghana’s goalkeeper, but the USA players themselves.

The Positives and Negatives of the USA Squad’s Performance:

Positives:

Landon Donovan

• Desire, Character, Perseverance, Finding a Way to Win, Heart, Don’t Quit or Give up Mentality, are a few ways of describing this team, especially after their performances against Slovenia and Algeria. These qualities can only be admired and respected, but remember all these qualities don’t replace skill. As a good friend of mine said to me “I look forward to the day our talent matches these qualities!”
• Landon Donovan. I will admit I have not been a fan of Donovan over the years, the best field player our country has produced up to this point. He was the poster boy in my opinion for everything I that I disliked about American soccer. All the criticism he received prior to going to Everton was well deserved, but I have to admit, I really like the maturing Donovan. Not only for his play on the field, but his demeanor off. To consider him in the same breath as Pele, Cruijff, Beckenbauer, Maradona, Best, Zidane, etc. is a bit of a stretch, but he is a very good player. His recent play in this World Cup not only helped increase awareness of soccer in the American mainstream, but also put Donovan in the history books as a true American soccer legend. Let’s hope MLS and the U.S. Soccer Federation recognize Donovan’s contributions to USA soccer and let him go back to Europe to play full time. He deserves this. Landy Cakes is dead! Long live Mr. Donovan! Well done Landon.
• Steve Cherundolo. His play against Ghana might not have been up to par with his play in the first round, but he played very well in the first 3 matches.
• Bob Bradley. Give him his due for quickly recognizing necessary personnel changes during matches. Criticize him because many personnel changes were a result of his original decisions that turned into mistakes.
• Michael Bradley. His attitude, goal, and play were major contributions to the team’s moments of success. He did himself a lot of good this tournament. He’s still just 22 years old.
• Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. If it was not for these two, who would have scored our goals? Our strikers? 
• Benny Feilhaber, Jonathan Borstein, and Maurice Edu. Definitely did not hurt themselves this tournament. 
• The Ref from Mali. If people don’t realize, he did a lot of good for soccer in our country. As a nation that despises injustice and relishes the theoretically level playing field of athletic competition, his call certainly raised awareness of the World Cup and soccer in general United States.
• Jozy Altidore. He did not score one goal in this tournament, but his play caused a lot of problems and created some very important goals.
• Tim Howard. He is a very good goalkeeper. Had a memorable performance against England. Comments about Ghana’s goals are just silly.

Negatives:

• Scoring goals. This is his second tournament that not of one of our strikers scored. Opportunities were created, but players technical levels did not let us take advantage of our chances.
• Giving up early goals. Some would say the USA needed this in order to really start playing, but as we found out against Ghana this only goes so far. Not a good tactic to get used to, even though it led to some memorable performances.
• Defense. Giving up early goals also exposed instances of very amateurish defensive organization, something you certainly would not expect at this level. The tournament also exposed our defenders’ lack of speed and their one dimensional qualities. Defenders’ first priority is to defend, but in the modern game they are expected to do a lot more than just that. More than what are our current group of honest defenders have to offer.
• Bob Bradley. His decisions concerning tactics and player personal were poor at times in this tournament. This was justified by his substitutions. At least he quickly recognized his mistakes and made changes quickly. Some of them, as we know, turned out to be quite good.
• Robbie Findley. Sorry MLS, but Findley does not have the technical qualities to be a starter at this level. He might not have qualities to play at this level at all, but it is not his fault he was put in the starting eleven.
• Jose Torres. Should he of been in the starting 11 against Slovenia?
• Technical Levels of USA players. Current levels might be adequate for “B” level competition, but if the USA wants really improve their status in the football world, we need to develop players with much higher technical abilities at a much younger age and promote a more intelligent, higher tempo technical game within our country.
• CONCACAF Qualifications. Very difficult process, but have we learned, recognized, and admitted that World Cup play is different and a much higher level of play?

SPECIAL NOTE:

Did you know other than fans from South Africans, the fans of the United States were the largest non-native fan base to attend this World Cup? It must be said that this is based on ticket sales from our country, which also included purchases from fans from other surrounding countries and immigrants in the U.S., but all of you who did go attend this World Cup not only supported strongly and uniquely the USA team, you are probably going to be the major reason he USA gets the World Cup in 2018. If we are going to attend matches all the way in South Africa, FIFA knows for sure we will come to our home matches. Did we ever have an empty stadium during our 1994 World Cup? Also, kudos out to President Obama’s Administration for understanding the importance of the World Cup.  Sending former President Bill Clinton attend the matches was incredibly significant, respectful, and cool for our sport! The World Power should be aware of the World Game.


What Needs To Be Done To Improve the USA National Team?


There are 2 areas in my opinion that need to improve, one of them needs to change dramatically, in order for the US National to get ahead.

Our Professional Leagues:

• MLS. Major League Soccer’s Commissioner Don Garber and the owner investors need to be congratulated on turning around the commercial side of league and for investing in professional soccer. Now they need to focus on improving the quality of play in MLS.
• The first thing I would recommend is to ensure every coach in the league understands what good positional play is. This is not demonstrated often, and if upgraded would immediately improve the quality of play and demand more technically from the players, some what important, especially from a league that wants to promote an attacking style of play. MLS needs to understand you cannot play attacking soccer without technically competent players and coaches who do not understand how to play or coach this style. Let’s also choose our International players wisely. Are they big names that really can bring butts in the seats and improve the level of play? Let’s not forget the unknown international that is talented and can create revenue for the league through the transfer market. The question here is does the MLS have the qualified personal to identify this type of player?
• Secondly, hire coaches and technical directors who are qualified and experienced to do their jobs and still make our players better. It seems often that having played in the MLS means you are qualified to be a Head Coach or a Technical Director. The league seems to be used as a training ground for these positions. Some have found success, but more often others have floundered but still seem to keep employed. You are not going to tell me there was not better coaches available than DC United’s recent hire of Curt Onalfo as Head Coach, are you? There was and is. Let’s not talk about money wasted over the years in the transfer market because of poor player selection. If the MLS wants to promote an attacking style of play, why do we have so many coaches who are not capable of promoting this style of play? In order for the MLS to contribute to improving the USA National Team, it must lose its arrogant inbred country club mentality and start making decisions what best interest of soccer, especially what goes on the field. (This might be difficult because too many people are afraid to bring in qualified individuals because they might get exposed.) It will only help their game. Robbie Findley might be a star in the MLS, but as we saw in the World Cup, he was far from that on the world stage. 
• USSF Division 2. The second division professional league needs to improve its quality of players, maybe focusing on younger players. It’s a league that is competitive, demanding, and often well coached, but at the end of the day how many players are going to be transferred creating revenues for their club?

Youth Soccer:

What does youth soccer in America have to with professional soccer? The answer is NOTHING! Youth soccer in America is currently about 2 things, MONEY and GETTING JOHNNY AND SUZY USA a college scholarship. The USA will never even come close to becoming an elite player on the world stage until this segment of US soccer is completely changed, not only on the field, but the whole culture and mentality. Not an easy task, especially when you are talking about people’s livelihoods and political votes. It also demonstrates how naïve people are, especially parents who blindly spend money to get their children exposed to college coaches. How is it when in all other parts of the world youth development is a full-time profession, but in the States the youth clubs’ boards are mostly run by people who have full-time professions outside of soccer and really don’t have a clue about what it takes to develop professional players?

Youth soccer is big business in the United States, but not in the sense of developing players for the transfer market. The American entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. I have nothing against anyone who makes a living from soccer as long as they’re honest and qualified in what they are offering. Unfortunately we have a lot of people and clubs who are not. The result is an over-inflated and unknowledgeable environment that is doing a very poor job producing professional players. To prove my point, just divide the 18 million youth players we have playing in the States by the number of world class players and high level professional players we are producing? The reality is that the USA will never be a world power until players are selected based on their abilities, not their parents abilities to pay, and we recognize the need to develop professional talent at a much younger age. We also need coaches who have the ability to compare what goes on in other parts of the world, a big weakness overall in our coaches. Simply put, the culture and mentality must change completely. Not only on the amount and quality of training and competition, but there also needs to be recognition that college soccer and professional soccer are worlds apart and players need to be identified, trained and developed completely different and separately. To say that the new US Soccer Development Academy is going to be the answer is a little premature. Some players are still paying ridiculous amounts to participate, even though MLS is paying for all expenses for their teams, which is a good start. But do people realize that they are focusing on players that are too old for the professional game? How about the coaching?  They are ex-MLS players so it must be good right?  Do we also have the best coaching available for our Youth National Teams?

The deficiencies our National Team possesses are a reflection on how we develop young players. As we found out giving the “old college try” at the World Cup can only go so far. The good news is that we can make choices that can really make a huge difference in the quality of our soccer in our country, instead of having our professional leagues and national teams simply function as an extension of the current youth and college game.

Tuesdays With Messi and A Soccer Lesson

Joe Knows Greatness

SI sportswriter Joe Posniak writes a very interesting post on his blog about the genius of Messi.  Despite describing himself as a non-soccer person, he makes some very interesting observations about soccer.

"I measure soccer against the sports I have grown up loving, and it seems to me that that soccer — a bit like baseball — is defined by failure. Most corner kicks don’t find a teammate’s head. Most crosses into the box are too long or too short or turned away. Most shots are not aimed for the upper right-hand corner. Most runs end up being stuffed a long way from the goal. Most goals are the result of a staggering blunder — either by the defenders or the goalkeeper or the linesman who missed offside or awarded a shaky penalty kick or gave a free kick in a dangerous place. One somewhat cynical soccer commentator told me that what I need to understand is that every single goal, even the most brilliant of them, is the result of an error somewhere along the way. I suppose there are pitching coaches who would say the same thing about home runs."

He goes on to say this about Messi...

"Messi simply does things — little things and big things — that other players here cannot do. He gets a ball in traffic, is surrounded by two or three defenders, and he somehow keeps the ball close even as they jostle him and kick at the ball. He takes long and hard passes up around his eyes and somehow makes the ball drop softly to his feet, like Keanu Reeves making the bullets fall in “The Matrix.” He cuts in and out of traffic — Barry Sanders only with a soccer ball moving with him — sprints through openings that seem only theoretical, races around and between defenders who really are running even if it only looks like they are standing still. He really does seem to make the ball disappear and reappear, like it’s a Vegas act."

It's interesting to me that a guy who doesn't really follow soccer that closely, can recognize the greatness of Messi so easily. 


Tuesday's Soccer Lesson:  Dive Like C. Ronaldo

Here's a funny little video of a coach teaching his players the "Cristiano Ronaldo".  Enjoy!

The Cristiano Ronaldo

Best Quote of the World Cup

This is far and away the best quote I've heard during the World Cup so far.

"Ricardo Clark looked like he had a case of "Ghana-rrhea"!"

From a friend of mine who I will leave un-named.

World Cup: Huntsville Supporters and Goal Line Technology

Fans Gather On The USA Bandwagon

The Huntsville Times has an article about the 150+ fans who gathered to watch the USA yesterday at a local establishment.  My RCU broadcast partner, John Moran, has some nice quotes to offer.


Goal Line Technology

The sport lost a terrific opportunity to force the crooks officials in charge of the game at FIFA to implement goal line technology when England collapsed after having Lampard's obviously good goal was disallowed by the refereeing crew.  If England had lost 2:1 instead of 4:1 to a dominant German side, then the debate in favor of goal line technology would be infinitely louder.  Can you imagine the furor of the English media, if that disallowed goal would have been the difference between the two teams?  As it is, FIFA can go back to the default stance of ignoring the rest of the world clamoring for use of the technology.
 

The ball is clearly over the line (except to the refereeing crew)!

The technology is already available and in use by several other sports, including tennis.  However, I don't expect FIFA to do anything about it without being forced financially to do so.  You see, it's not about the protection of the game, it's all about money for FIFA.  Don't fool yourself into believing otherwise...

RCU Splits The Points With CFC

With the end of the USA's run in the World Cup, it would have been understandable if soccer fans were to wallow in privacy on Saturday evening, but a large crowd of the Valley's soccer fans came out to support their local side, Rocket City United, in a crucial NPSL Southeast Region league match against Chattanooga FC as the clubs drew 1:1.

Nearly 900 fans filled the Madison City Schools Stadium and witnessed a back and forth affair that was dominated for large portions of the match by CFC.  The Blue's attacking tandem of Chris Ochieng and Luis Salazar harried the RCU backline for 70 minutes.  It was only the goalkeeping heroics of Mike "Goose" Gustavson who saved RCU's "goose" on multiple occasions.   However, CFC dangerous duo  finally broke through in the 65th minute when good work around the top of the penalty area allowed Salazar to run free near the endline.  Salazar picked out Ochieng in front of the gaping net for tap in finish and the 1:0 lead.

CFC prepared to batten down the hatches with RCU pushing for an equalizer.  It was forward Andrew Nkurunungi who was the catalyst for RCU when the second dubious penalty in as many games with CFC was awarded to RCU.  In their last meeting in 2009 in Chattanooga, a 90th minute "phantom" penalty was awarded to RCU.  In that case, the soccer gods righted the misdeed as CFC goalkeeper Richard Masters saved the spot kick.

In the 75th minute of last night's match, Nkurunungi latched on to a ball in the penalty area and went down under what looked like incidental contact from the CFC's Russell Courtney.  Referee, Steve Walker, who had allowed several nasty challenges to go uncalled throughout the night, blew for the spotkick to the dismay of the CFC bench and players alike.  Alexi Munro slotted the penalty home as CFC's Richard Masters had guessed to the wrong side.

The goal gave RCU life and for the final 10 minutes, RCU were the more dangerous side.  In the 87th minute, RCU nearly took home the full three points when RCU left back Jacob Letsholo's header crashed off the crossbar. 

In the end, the teams split the points and CFC remains 3 points ahead of RCU in the standings.

Big Saturday for National and Local Teams

Two big games today!  One in the afternoon (if you don't know what I'm talking about, shame on you!), and one at 7:30 PM at the Madison City Schools Stadium when 2nd place Rocket City United play 1st place Chattanooga FC. 

RCU will be looking to turn around the poor result on the road against FC Tulsa.  As always seems to be the case in the short NPSL Southeast season, this is a virtual must-win match for RCU.  It's a "six pointer" as a win would pull RCU level with CFC at 10 points, while a loss would see them six points behind.

CFC is a much improved team over last year, where they relied a little too much on athleticism.  This year, they've made some improvements in the attacking third of the field that has seen them go undefeated this season.

Also, we should expect to see a phenomena that has so far been a very rare sight in the NPSL Southeast, the traveling supporter.  CFC have a legit supporters group called the Chattahooligans.  They will be traveling down 72 this afternoon to support their club and hopefully in large numbers.  This can only be a good thing for soccer in the south.  

RCU is looking to capitalize on World Cup fever and are hoping for a good crowd tonight.  This week, kids get in free when they wear their soccer jersey!  Should be a fun day for soccer fans in the Valley.

First Round Rewind

Friend of the PWT-blog and former RCU coach, Greg Petersen, gives us his thoughts on the first round of the World Cup.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE 2010 WORLD CUP FIRST ROUND

GROUP A:

Uruguay veteran striker Forlan has been outstanding in this tournament. Not only in his play, but in his leadership. Uruguay was not expected do to much in this tournament and they have been one of the nice surprises so far.

Mexico also has played very well so far in this tournament. Young players like Dos Santos, Hernandez, and Barrerra have been very exciting to watch. Veterans Salcedo and Marquez have been outstanding. Uruguay and Mexico coaches and players need to be applauded for there quality of play in the first round. Both teams came in well prepared and have shown in their matches.

South Africa, the first host team not to make it to the second round, just was not good enough. Their defeat of France gives them a little satisfaction in their exit

France Or should I say FC CATASTROPHE? Very disappointing showing from some of the better players in the world.  We will hear more about this in the future, but my friends from France say very similar to USA WC 1998 minus players sleeping with other player’s wives.

GROUP B:

Argentina has been the class of the tournament so far. I predict they will win the cup. They need to make sure is that their defense is not their worst enemy. This team is so talented and their attacking abilities are scary!  Maradona seems to have everyone in such a positive and focused state of mind even the players on the bench seem happy! Palermo’s goal was so rewarding and deserving of a player who has done so much for Argentina football, especially his club Boca Juniors! Even if you’re not a fan you needed to applaud this moment!

South Korea deserves to be in the second round. I don’t think they will go far in the next round, but you have to give this country their due respect for how they play.                            

Greece  BORING!

Nigeria has no one to blame for not being in the second round except them. Sani Kaita's red card against Greece was just completely irresponsible.  Yakuba's miss against South Korea is still having everyone scratching their heads wondering how he missed that, but this is African football where one minute you seeing something amazing, like Enyeama’s goalkeeping against Argentina, and the other minute you see something and ask yourself “ did I really just see that? “ Unfortunately, my prediction about the African teams came true.

GROUP C:

USA I will have a separate article analyzing of the USA team after they have finished the tournament. As everyone knows there has been some amazing and unforgettable performances and moments from the USA team and individual players in the first round, but further analysis will show we still have some work to do to be considered an elite team at the world stage. We also had some glaring consistent deficiencies in our game. Remember, with all the excitement and emotion of the last minutes of the Algerian match, we were 2 minutes away from soccer in the US going backwards?

England, overall, has had a poor showing in the first round. Is this a result of the players being fatigued from demands of the EPL?  Or is this team and English football in general just over rated? They did have a very convincing qualification and Capello has brought a lot of positive changes and some much needed discipline, but the way this current team is playing is far away from being one of the great teams in the world. Based on we are seeing English football and their players are in real trouble. Maybe, it's time English football starts focusing on developing and giving their own players more opportunities to play first team football in their country. Their coaching also needs a lot of improvement. Recent Barcelona coaches that were hired to take over and run the Liverpool Youth Academy said the academy was in such poor shape, they were five years away from producing a player for the first team.  This not to say England does not have their exceptional coaches. Yes, they have their Tony Carrs, Dario Gradis, Roy Hodges, and Sir Alex Fergusons, who is Scottish, but generally, the tactical knowledge of their coaches are not that good, especially outside the environment of British football. I have a feeling many people in England are worried about the future of England’s football and they have every right to be. It just raises the question why do we have so many English coaches coaching are kids in America? Again not to say there are not some good ones, but Beckenbauer was not so far off when he said “kick and rush” recently.  Let’s see how England does against Germany on Sunday?

Slovenia should be very proud of what they have accomplish at this tournament, but at the same time regretting not getting 3 points against the USA. Both Slovenia and USA could probably say that? It was also very naive to think Slovenia was not a very good team before this tournament started.

Algeria is another team of whom it was naive to think they where not that good. Not to say this was a strong group, but Algeria has been a very worthy opponent in recent competitions.  If Algeria's finishing was better, we could very well be saying something different about the USA?

GROUP D:

Germany looked phenomenal in their match against Australia. Oezil is a real talent. Look forward to them being a real difficult opponent in the 2nd round and beyond.

Serbia was a major disappointment. They looked good in the qualifications and Partisan and Red Star are again producing very good players for western Europe, but that old Yugoslavia under achieving mentality popped it’s head up again in World Cup competition.

Australia started off on the wrong foot in this tournament, but ended on a high note. A lot of positive things going on in Australian soccer world! Is Tim Cahill one of the best goal scorers with his head in the world?

Ghana I cannot tell you how happy I am for this coach and his team making it to the 2nd round.  Defensively, they are very disciplined. They've made huge improvements since the African Cup of Nations. I don’t think we have seen the best of their attacking players yet? Only team from Africa to get to the 2nd round.

GROUP E:

Netherlands is one of the better teams in the tournament. Elia is an up and coming talent. His performance in the 2nd half against Demark was incredible. Serious team to challenge for cup. We have not seen the best of this team yet!

Japan surprised their fans more than anyone. They did not have high expectations for this coach or team team, but after that performance against Denmark, they deserved to be in the 2nd round. NICE FREE-KICKS!

Denmark coach Morten Olsen has to be disappointed in his team’s performance. After an extremely difficult group in the qualifications, which they sailed through, their game was against Cameroon was probably the only time we saw what Denmark’s true capabilities.

Cameroon was never a threat. At least Eto can tell his children he scored 2 goals in the 2010 World Cup.

GROUP F:

Paraguay did what I thought they would, but nothing really exciting in their play, just effective as collective group of players.

Slovakia beat Italy squarely. Deserve to be in the 2nd round.

New Zealand should be very proud in this tournament. Defensively, they where very good. A few more goals they could of made it to the 2nd round, which would have been a huge accomplishment.

Italy was old and missed an opportunity to prepare for the future.

GROUP G:

Brazil finished top in their group, but this team has really been uneventful so far, reflecting the nature of the Head Coach Dunga. Now that they enter the second round, expect a much sharper Brazil. This team is loaded with talent and experience, but still don’t think this team has the mentality to win the Cup.

Portugal showed their true attacking potential against North Korea scoring 7 goals by 6 different players. Now they know that they are capable.  It will be interesting to see Portugal play against a quality opponent in the future rounds. Nice training session against Brazil.

Ivory Coast has some very special players and demonstrated they can be a very capable team, but they're currently not as good as Portugal or Brazil. I was extremely happy that Drogba was able to play.

North Korea was the least talented team in this group, but let’s give them respect for their honest play and for never giving up.

GROUP H:

Spain started off on the wrong foot against Switzerland.  Their stars returning from injury were not in the best of form. Then in the last 2 group matches, Spain found their form and reasserted their status as being one of the tournament's favorites by finishing on top their group.

Chile was one of the most entertaining teams to watch

Switzerland, thankfully, is not making it to 2nd round, but you have to respect coach Ottmar Hitzfeld for his coaching abilities.

Honduras has to be given thanks for tying Switzerland!