There Needs To Be Some Serious Changes Here

So I've got to leave for work in about 45 minutes but it does not feel like a half holiday right now...

I changed my name on myspace.com this morning, it's now: FIRE BRUCE ARENA!

We got outplayed by Ghana, there's absolutely no way around it. But it's not necessarily the player's fault. A lot of blame has to be placed on DaMarcus Beasley and the most blame of all has to be placed on the ref for a really bad penalty call.

But beyond that a 1-1 tie, what the game should have been, still wouldn't have been enough to get us through. And what was Bruce Arena playing for the entire match? A friggin' 1-0 win! And once Ghana scored first, there was absolutely no point in still staying 4-5-1.

That was an amazing goal from Clint Dempsey though. I think that he earned himself a spot on some team in the Colaship next season - where he probably should have been already. Maybe Preston North End, eh? They still haven't replaced Eddie Lewis to keep their Yank quotient up to its usual.

Eddie Johnson started to make the game a lot more vibrant once he came on 62 minutes too late.

But, yeah, positives aside, Bruce Arena needs to be fired for playing tentatively the whole tournament. But it goes much further than that.

All of the neutrals I've talked to on the subject say that Bruce Arena didn't prepare the team properly during the tournament. But I think, and while thankfully they're not rubbing it in, that the preparation mistakes go all the way back through the friendlies.

We needed to schedule a lot more matches in hostile territory than we did. We needed to play more European teams. And for pete's sakes we can't turn down invitations to play in the Copa America!

In any other country on Earth, the coach would be gone after what happened to the United States team.

Well who did I recommend? I don't know. Anybody but Sven.

Actually, and I'm not kidding, Steve Nicol of the New England Revolution. He's never been afraid to take the Revolution overseas so why not the United States MNT? And he's a fiery Scot. Bruce Arena is fiery as well, during practice, but during the game he looked like he was sedated and resigned.

So yeah, in conclusion speaking of resigned...

If we want to be a realer footcer nation than we already are, Bruce Arena needs to go!

I Just Love This Time Of Every Four Years

It's a good thing the World Cup is only once every four years or I think I'd explode a blood vessel. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate everyone who comes out of the woodwork and pays attention the U.S. Men's National Team once every four years - even though I get upset when you disappear the rest of the time and say, "yeah I like footcer, I wonder what's going on with it."

And they spend their time on the forum rehashing topics that those of us who actually keep it alive in the United States the rest of the time are sick of debating (i.e. the FIFA rankings are crap). Well at least I am.

But, hey, the events-only footcer crowd did a great thing! They drove the ratings of the U.S.A./Italy match to a 5.2 rating - on the English language stations (without including Spanish broadcasting). That's the highest rating since a 7.0 for the 1998 final.

But the news is better than that. In games not involving the United States, ESPN2 is averaging a 1.3 rating - for matches that are taking place during the day. The weekend numbers were a 2.8.

That's more than the NHL Finals are drawing!

But, get this, the World Cup outdrew NASCAR in the 18-34 demographic!

Yes, I'll repeat that...

FOOTCER FOR ONE DAY WAS BIGGER THAN NASCAR WITH THE DEMOGRAPHIC THAT MATTERS TO ADVERTISERS!!!

Mind you, these are nowhere near the numbers drawn by the NBA Finals, but it's huge.

In looking over the T.V. ratings (for an analysis I was doing to prove footcer had supplanted hockey as the #4 sport in the United States - and it's pretty convincingly so with MLS' attendance and T.V. ratings on par with hockey and international matches outdrawing olympic hockey) I realized something.

The United States really doesn't care about watching sports.

Think about this before you break out the straightjacket. The NBA Finals, in prime time, are drawing an 11. That's 14 million people. Pretty good. Not when you consider that is 5% of the United States population.

The only 95% are not watching the NBA finals.

Think about that. If only 5% of people in England were watching the World Cup, there would be a full scale government investigation. If only 5% of people in Australia watched any sporting event, the sun would implode.

Well That Was Quite A Violent Match Today

I know that I've gotten in trouble for missing politics and footcer in the past, but I really can't help but to point this map from ESPN.com out:



It's not the current poll on which states Democrats are leading House or Senate races in vis-a-vis Republicans. It's actually a poll on which is a more interesting event. The "red states" are states that voted for the NBA finals game this evening. The "blue states" are those states that voted for the USA's match against Italy today.

If only this were the case more of the time than it would be a perfect world.

Well not really since I'm all for footcer and basketball laying down together and breaking bread (I did an analysis and 11 of the 24 countries in the World Basketball Championship in a couple months are in the World Cup right now), it's pointyball that I want to drive out of existence.

Not really, but the pointyball fans are getting on my last nerve in the trenches of myspace.com.

Back to first thing though. The bluest state is New Hampshire (67 to 22%). The reddest state is Florida (but probably due to their homestate Heat being in the NBA finals - 55 to 37%). But among those neutral states it is demographically interesting to say the least which are the bluest and which are the reddest. I'm not saying anymore.

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But on to the actuality of today's match. First of all, anyone who took my 1-1 prediction to the betting house, I again want a cut!

The United States will beat Ghana 3-1 on Thursday.

Take that one if you haven't heeded my last two calls (alright if you took my 2-0 on Czech Republic/United States you lost money but only because the United States gave up when it was 2-0. See, I'm not just saying that because it will be one-half of assuring the United States gets the priviledge of being Brazil's first knockout victim, I'm saying it because Ghana's defense is crap (though that free kick showed ours leaves a lot to be desired) and we can exploit it.

Now I know what you're saying: "but Ghana pulled a clean sheet today against the Czechs."

Oh my friend it is not Ghana's defense that shut down the Czech offense, it was the Czech offense that shut down itself. It was as if the Czechs studied the United States' game tapes of how to lose a match by not really trying to play positive footcer in the slightest. I mean, it should have been an easy tape to find being as the Czechs were involved and all.

But unlike the United States in the first match, it wasn't the Czech's fault entirely as they're a team without a single healthy striker. Well at least a top quality one, one that doesn't play for Red Bull New York's sister team in Austria. Especially when you're playing them up top.

And it's not going to get any better against Italy as neither of their real strikers is supposed to be back - at least to the best of my knowledge.

So, see, Italy, barring a major disaster wil beat the Czechs. All we have to do to prove 75% of the world wrong and get out of the pool is to beat Ghana. And I think we are honestly more organized and have better players in 7 of the 11 positions.

And if not, today proves we really know how to fuck opposing players up.

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See, if you look back, the Morocco friendly was useful after all. Getting our asses kicked physically by a dirty Morocco side made us better able to be a dirty side ourselves when it was necessary - basically when we were as outclassed by an opponent as Morocco was outclased by us.

We couldn't do it against the Czech because you can't bully opposing players twice your size but against the Italian, out constant fouling put them right off their game.

It's not the United States style that I like to see but we're actually quite good at it. We pushed the Italians around like rag dolls and actually controlled the portion of the game where the two sides were even because the Italians had no idea what to do.

Now I won't even get into the whole refereeing situation (Beasley's goal shouldn't have counted - as it didn't - but it was beautiful just the same) but this should tip my hand a little (from one of the footcer communities on LiveJournal)...

Here's the number for the Uruguayan embassy:

(202) 331-1313

For those of you in DC, the address:

1913 I Street NW

Not that putting diplomatic pressure on Uruguay will do any good, but you know the whole "phone your representative" thing is the United States way. :)

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By the way, for anyone who says the own goal was our salvation, I have this to say. The United States had the ball in Italy's box so much during the first 20 minutes that Italy was bound to make a defensive mistake.

It was the pressure that led to that defensive snafu. Now sure it would have been better if we score the goal off one of our own players but it was our game that led to the goal either way.

And if we run like that at Ghana, they're going to break a lot easier.

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I'd like to report that the hard fought draw down one man for the entire second half won the United States some respect in the trenches but the haters, while sudued, are still making excuses how the United States isn't good enough.

Well if we can lose 2-1 to Brazil maybe that will help.

Lies, Lies, Lies, And Bull Puckey

This is an entry I posted both on myspace.com and my LiveJournal. It's not actual news, it's just a fit of anger I've been having for a time...

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THE BIGGEST LIES YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD BRITISH PUNDIT HAS TOLD YOU

Lie #1 : It's called football all over the world and soccer only in the United States.

TRUTH: Besides the obvious Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand (basically any country that has a second dominant football code besides Association Football), in Italy it's "calcio" which translated to kick and not football. In Swahili it's "soka" which requires not much translation. And in most Eastern European nations it translates to "kick ball." Mind you when these countries say it in English, they say "football" but from their own languages this is not the correct translation.

Lie #2: The United States are ranked #5 in the world because they play in CONCACAF.

TRUTH: While the FIFA rankings are flawed to the point where they're unusable, it's not playing against St. Kitts or Grenada that has the United States so high up the rankings, it's playing Mexico (so this is a half truth) over and over and over. The way the FIFA rankings actually work is the higher ranked the teams you play the more points you gain. As the United States regularly end up playing Mexico as the only two teams in CONCACAF that are close to world class. This creates a giant circle jerk where Mexico pushes the United States up the ranking and vice-versa. If Holland and England played as much as Mexico and the United States play each other, they would both be ahead of Brazil according to the FIFA methodology despite the results.

Lie #3: The United States has never won on European soil and ducks European competition away from the United States.

TRUTH: Another half truth. The United States has never beat a big five team (England, France, Germany, Italy, or Spain) on European soil. The United States has also never won a World Cup match in Europe. However in 2004 the United States did a three match tour of Europe, beating Denmark and Poland and losing to Holland 1-0. While this does not prove they would be a second place type team in a UEFA qualifying group it does mean they can beat second place type teams in UEFA qualifying groups.

Lie #4: England is the second best team in the world.

TRUTH: England has, possibly, the second most talented group of players in the world but are hit-and-miss as far as showing up. They are the biggest bunch of underachievers in sports. If you gave England's talent to, I don't know, Poland, they would dominate world footcer because they actually know how to play as a team. England is basically the United States men's basketball team of world footcer. Secondly since all but two of England's players are in the Premiership, there's really no way to judge them on a week-in, week-out basis against many of the other team's stars who play in Spain or Italy (and a couple even in Germany).

Lie #5: The United States sucks (or are just "not very good").

TRUTH: Sure this is a matter of opinion but nothing bears this out except for a really bad match against the Czech Republic. Sucks is a term that should be used for teams who are absolutely terrible like Zaire or The Bahamas. Even Angola does not suck. They're just not one of the best teams on Earth. Frankly a new classification needs to be created for teams that are in the #15 to #50 in the world type. I call them "second tier" but not "not very good."

Lie #6: Freddy Adu is the future of footcer in the United States.

Freddy Adu isn't even our best U-23 player right now. He's one of our best ball control players already but he's got absolutely no idea how to act in the final third. Plus he still gets shoved around and intimidated by larger players (as was seen at last year's youth championships, let alone in MLS). Freddy Adu will make the national team squad but he's not on the path right now to be our star player by any means. And don't even get me started on the bigger lie that he should have been named this World Cup. Not ever coach has a Theo Walcott mentality.

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I also posted a big emo screed when Poland got eliminated but that's another story. Let's stick to the anger.

At Least There Were Lots Of People To Share The Sorrow

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

I'm writing this entry from the Fado in Pioneer Square. At this point all I can do is fucking cry about what just happened to the Footcer Yanks. I predicted right when the draw was announced that we were going to lose to the Czechs 0-2 but I was hoping I was wrong.

Well I was wrong since we lost 0-3 to the Czechs and it wasn't nearly as close as I expected it to be. :(

We looked like we had reverted to the team we would have fielded in about 1995. Thank goodness I had a cider to drown out my sorrows a bit.

4-5-1? FUCKING WHY?

Eddie Johnson was the one bright spot when he came into the match and showed why by 2010 he'll be the best striker the United States has ever produced.

And will Bruce Arena start him in the next match against Italy? I really hope so!

No, forget it, I definitely don't want to talk about that. Plus for the most part I couldn't see the television at all.

The Fado in Pioneer Square was packed to the point where people were crammed into vantage points where you couldn't even see the television. And when the shot hit the goal post the whole bar burst into a collective sigh. I can only imagine what The Globe (or Chicago's Fado) looked like during the match.

Though I do have to say that Fado is now empty as everybody has left to go to work. Speaking of which, I should probably check my e-mail now.

A World Cup Just Made For U.S. Consumption

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

I'm not missing entries because I'm in Germany or anything - just in Seattle but pretty much just as far from home.

And thankfully it seems that people here are actually decently interested in the World Cup! Of course it helped that Mexico won and a ton of people were supporting those colors on the streets of downtown Seattle. The big test will be tomorrow. If people are wearing the United States colors (after we, hopefully, win) then Seattle is being ripped off not getting an MLS team.

Yeah, I know, some of the footcerites have been saying that for a while. :)

I do have to say that thusfar this World Cup has been a publicist's dream and hopefully people in the United States are paying attention.

When the tourney starts out with a 4-2 match, that's an advertisement for how footcer can look. And then you've got David Beckham's free kick resulting in England's only goal (I have to disclose that I fell back asleep immediately after the Beckham goal was deflected in by the Paraguayan defender). And, then you had the story of Oswaldo Sanchez from right in our own region.

The sight of the Mexican players all in tears surrounding him after he played mere days after his father died will be an image that will stand out even if Mexico somehow loses to Angola and gets sent home (guess what's not going to happen).

I'd like to thank Mexico for so many reasons today. Though them beating Iran still didn't shut the (Iranian-American) kid I'm arguing with on myspace.com up. He is still under the impression that Iran is the better team and they only lost because they were playing for a draw.

Still, they represented CONCACAF extremely well.

Though not nearly as well as Trinidad & Tobago. Sure they went out trying for the 0-0 draw after Avery John became the first player to get red carded in the whole tournament (so one MLS player will go down in the history books in this World Cup at least) but they did it.

Shaka Hislop needs to have a national holiday named after him.

See, I think the United States should take their example into tomorrow's match. Anything's possible and even if we're big underdogs we're nothing compared to the Soca Warriors who Sweden was supposed to wipe off the map (would anyone notice those two little islands were gone?).

I still don't have a good feeling but if the publicity machine of United States favorable results keeps on there's no way we can lose.

Fun World Cup Stuff To Stay Alive For

If there any way that one's faith can be confirmed in choosing agnostic humanism, a recent story out of Ukraine confirms my own beliefs. A suicidal man lowered himself with a rope into a lion's cage in Kiev screaming, "God will save me, if he exists."

The man subsequently had his throat ripped out by a female lion.

If there is a God than I'm thinking that he or she isn't going to bother with someone jumping into a lion's cage right about now.

I mean, come on, there are way too many prayers coming from all over the globe about footcer. :)

Instead of jumping into the lion's cage, the man should have looked at the following chart, gone to Germany and used the following two phrases:





and,





I mean, it's like those amp'd mobile commercials that were running a little bit ago where the slogan was "don't die, Amp'd mobile is coming soon." Except this is possibly the worst time to die (not that there's ever a great time to do so) since it's only four days until the World Cup.

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I "drafted" my roster for Yahoo's fantasy World Cup. Here's my starting lineup:

G - Cech; D - Carragher; D - Del Horno; D - Dragutinovic; M - Lampard; M - Ronaldinho; M - Deco; M - Riquelme; F - Henry; F - Van Nistelrooy (aka the Golden Boot winner); F - Shevchenko

I won't go into my 12 reserves since, you know, I've got to keep some secrets. :)

The reason? I'm founding my own little group to compete against anyone who wants to bring it on. It's group #28295!

Footcer Ball Of Destiny

Password is: footcer

E-mail me at displacedbeatnik@yahoo.com if you want help joining.

Don't worry. I'll probably do pretty bad as my team is closer to Ronald McDonald's than it is Goleo VI's as far as the celebrity league picks (the ones that are open to the public).

I think Ronald, being a footcer Yank is overestimating Mexico and the United States. But, it's alright that he's thinking with his giant clown heart and not his curly haired head. After all, it's only four days from the time every four years where anything is possible in 270 minutes.

It's, you know, the 270 other minutes that follow where only about six teams will do anything. :)

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Just one more quick footcer related note. The Independent (aka my paper of choice when I'm in the United Kingdom) published a list of exciting little side stories that might or might not have anything to do with the World Cup more than tangentially but are the kind of silly little footcer stories that I love. The list is at http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/comment/article624177.ece.

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LINK OF THE DAY

http://www.click2translate.com/worldcup2006/

The complete list of World Cup related phrases from the above cut and saved list.