The Right Exposure

First of all, I must say, the US v Mexico game was amazing; and Michael Bradley is my hero (just kidding). He play one heck of a game, scoring both goals for the US. It must have been hard for Bob Bradley (US coach) to hold back his ecstatic joy for his son during the game.

On another note. One or my online soccer destinations is a place known as Bleacher Report. It's not just soccer. They cover many different sports. I happen to read through the soccer candy. I came across a little story post entitled, "Will Soccer Ever Be Popular in the US? Why Americans Can and Will Learn the Game." It was a story about a guy (Texan in Florida) trying to explain why he "would never go to a World Cup soccer game, even if it was in his backyard and they served free beer." So the guy proceeds to tell the story, how he takes him to a, soccer pub so that he could show this guy (the Texan) the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan. He goes on to mention the conversation after the match: Texan: "Wow. Soccer is unbelievable." Other guy: "I thought you said you hated soccer and you wanted to make all these changes?" Texan: "That's when I was an idiot."

After reading that little ditty, it got me thinking. The greater American population doesn't like soccer because they haven't been properly exposed to the game. The biggest problem is the MLS. Now, I do love to watch the matches. I love the MLS. However, the quality of the matches are crap (compared to a Series A or EPL match). The matches are slow, inconsistent, and frankly... boring all together. No wonder Americans don't like the game, they aren't watching very much.

When you watch an EPL match on TV, you can here the chanting from the crowd. It sends chills up the back of my neck sometimes. You don't get that from watching an MLS match. The English population goes to a match to be apart of the entertainment, the US population goes and expects to be entertained. A little news for the US population, get rowdy (withing legal reason of course).

I think that's why people in the US don't like soccer, because the (fans) that do follow it, aren't doing a good job of making it worth watching. There is a reason they call it the BEAUTIFUL GAME, because IT IS!!!!

National Team Roster

The training camp roster looks really good. I am sure some may argue that there are other better suited to fill these spots. I do like our chances this year on the road to the World Cup. Here is who is practicing in LA right now:

Goalkeepers: Jon Busch (Chicago), Will Hesmer (Columbus), Matt Pickens (Colorado).
Defenders: Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus), Ugo Ihemelu (Colorado), Chris Wingert (Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto).
Midfielders: Brian Carroll (Columbus), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Eddie Gaven (Columbus), Stuart Holden (Houston), Jack Jewsbury (Kansas City), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus), John Thorrington (Chicago).
Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston), Kenny Cooper (Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby, Norway), Chris Rolfe (Chicago).

With those twenty players, there are a few that will join the team in Columbus from the European leagues. These will include:

Forwards Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey
Midfielders DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Bradley
Defenders Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo and Heath Pearce
Goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The game is on February 11th at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2 HD.

Manager, Manager, Go So Fast...

Okay, so it wasn't that fast but it still sucks. According to Soccer News, Kevin Keegan, the once manager of Newcastle United was caught speeding and had his licence suspended for six months.

He told the courts that he had been in “turmoil” over his future as the Newcastle manager.

He ended up hitting the legal points limit on his licence of twelve. He was traveling at 36 mph in a 30 mph zone. Here is an idea, if you are that close to you points limit... DON'T SPEED. Don't even drive with one hand on the steering wheel for goodness sake.

Apparently the Magistrate has the ability to waive a suspension like this one for those who can show that it would cause exceptional hardship. Well, with Keegan being the "Manager" of Newcastle, I would call it a hardship, would you? So, in writing, he accepted that he couldn't make that kind of case.

To add insult to the six month suspension of the drivers licence Keegan also had to pay a fine of 750 pounds, that would be 1087.28 in US.

I think the moral of the story here kids is this, don't tell the courts that you were emotional, in a rage, or any other mental state when pleading a case for speeding. Not such a good idea.

Nevada Smiths

Living in the US and being a fan of the beautiful game of football, isn't exactly the best combination. One of the hardest things to do in this situation is finding a place to grab a sweet pint of ale and watch a bit of footy. The good news is, there are a few places around the country that this scenario is possible. They just don't get put on the main stream map of places to go. If you are close to that location and like the things mentioned above, you're golden. If your not close, then your screwed.

I came across this Football Pub while cruising the net called Nevada Smiths. They have a great tag line, "Where Football is Religion". That tag alone does it for me. The problem I do have is the fact that I live in Bakersfield California and this amazing pub is in New York, 3000 miles away. I do have to say, if the wife and I do get a chance to go to New York, (in our dreams) this will be a must stop on the itinerary.

Just a side note on how cool this place really is. I had sent the pub an email telling them how awesome they were for making this sort of thing available in a country that doesn't exactly care for football. Anyway, I got an email the next day that said this, "Thank you for the kind words, send me on your postal address and I'll get a Nevada Smiths shirt over to you," Jack D Keane: Director of Football. These guys are awesome.