Worst Miss Ever (Updated)

I found this video on the front page of Yahoo today. Ignoring the fact that this is truly the worst miss I have ever seen, there have been more and more soccer related stories making the cover of Yahoo recently. The Henry hand ball was the top story followed by that whole girl soccer brawler incendent.


Following the Confederations Cup Kaka was on the front page as one of the most searched for people.


The front page also had video of the SMU 80 yard goal and the Egyptian league goal in 6 second over the last couple of months. It's good to see the beautiful game get some recognition from main stream media outlets.

UPDATE (from Sterlinho): I'm glad that White Kix posted this video. My computer crashed when I was trying to post the same video yesterday. I was going to put it up there with these misses from Diego Forlan and Steve Zakuani.

Confederations Cup Final Review

It just sounds better with the British accents.

Confederations Cup Final Preview

Can the U.S. pull off their first win against Brasil since the 1998 Gold Cup?

Brasil vs South Africa Highlight

Yeah, I left the "s" of off highlights for a reason. This is all she wrote:

Brasil vs. South Africa Semi-Final

We are less than half an hour away from the kickoff of semi-final number 2 between the giants of Brasil and the host country South Africa. The most notable news is that Juan is out with an injury to his left leg and is replaced by Luisao in central defense. Maicon remains the starter at right back leaving Danny Alves on the bench. That is crazy depth right there. Those are potentially two of the best right backs in the world. The U.S. needs a couple of military bases down in Brasil to feed our national team. The whole military kid in Germany thing has only been so-so...but kids born and raised in Brasil to American servicemen sounds like a plan.

The Soccernet preview is here.

USA vs Spain Confederations Cup '09 Semi's

The Unthinkable

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP)—The United States stunned top-ranked Spain 2-0 Wednesday night on goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, advancing to the Confederations Cup final with one of the Americans’ biggest soccer victories.
Altidore scored in the 27th minute and Dempsey added a goal in the 74th as the Americans became the first team to defeat Spain since Romania in November 2006.
The chances of such a U.S. victory seemed slim just a few days ago. The 14th-ranked Americans lost their first two games in the Confederations Cup, an eight-nation World Cup warmup, and were on the verge of elimination.
“I can’t explain it any more than you can,” U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “Sports is funny sometimes, but when you put your mind to something, you can achieve it.”
Now they will play defending champion Brazil or host South Africa on Sunday in their first-ever men’s final at a FIFA competition.
“It’s exciting, a great team effort. To beat an amazing team like Spain and make the final, it’s big,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “We played as hard as we could and that’s what it took. Every guy contributed, so it’s a very good feeling.”

The U.S. has three full days to prepare for the final. It was thoroughly outplayed by Brazil in a 3-0 first-round meeting.
“We take a few hours to regroup, but we’ll be ready,” Bradley said. “We’re so excited about this.”
Spain, the European champion, had set an international record with 15 straight victories and had tied Brazil’s record unbeaten streak of 35 games from December 1993 to January 1996.
“We’re not used to losing,” Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said. “We lacked a little of our usual touch. We played a very difficult rival who took us head on.”
Spain outshot the U.S. 29-9 but Howard came up with several big saves.
“We knew we had to pick and choose our moments to go forward,” Dempsey said. “We’re happy with the result and we know we’re going to have our work cut out to get anything out of the final.”
Altidore got the first goal when he outmuscled Joan Capdevila, his teammate on Spain’s Villarreal, to beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Dempsey scored when he pounced on Landon Donovan’s cross, which had bounced off Gerard Pique and the foot of Sergio Ramos.
Midfielder Michael Bradley, son of the coach, will miss the final. He received a red card for a late sliding tackle in the 87th minute, the third U.S. ejection of the tournament.
The United States had been 1-7-1 against top-ranked teams, beating Brazil in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup and tying Argentina last summer in an exhibition at Giants Stadium. When the U.S. upset Brazil, goalkeeper Kasey Keller had an outstanding game, just as Howard did.
For the Americans, a longtime soccer outsider, this ranked alongside the upset of Brazil as one of their top wins, below victories over England in the 1950 World Cup, Portugal and Mexico in the 2002 World Cup and Colombia in the 1994 World Cup.
The Americans were boosted by the return of captain Carlos Bocanegra, who had been sidelined since injuring a hamstring during a World Cup qualifier on June 6. He played left back instead of central defense.
The United States had lost its three previous matches against Spain, including a 1-0 in an exhibition on June 4 last year at Santander. Altidore scored after Dempsey lifted the ball over Pique as Xabi Alonso tried to come in. The ball deflected to the 19-year-old forward, who shot from 18 yards as Carles Puyol attempted to close in vain. The shot went off Casillas’ right arm and into the net.
Altidore was so excited he took off his jersey as he ran toward the stands in celebration, drawing a yellow card.
It was the first goal against Spain in 451 minutes, since Turkey’s Semih Senturk scored on April 1, and just the third goal the Spaniards allowed in 17 games dating to last summer’s European Championship.
Scoring against Spain had special meaning for Altidore, acquired by Villarreal of Spain’s La Liga from Major League Soccer and the New York Red Bulls for $10 million last summer. He made only two starts and four substitute appearances during the first half of the season for Villarreal, scoring one goal. Loaned to second division leader Xerez on Jan. 30, he didn’t get into a single match.
On Sunday, Altidore had sent a warning to Capdevila.
“He sent me a message and told me that we had to be careful,” Capdevila said. “But his Spanish is not so great, so I think he made a mistake.”

Parting the Red Sea

The USMNT pulled off an improbable place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup by defeating Egypt 3-0 and with a little help from Brazil as they defeated Italy by the same score. Goals from Charlie Davies, Michael Bradley and Clint "Deuce," Dempsey saw the American's put on a display that has not been seen for a quite some time. Everything the American's were coming under fire for in the last few games, was not evident in this day. Maybe, the pressure was off since they thought they were out of the tournament, maybe it was the Davies goal that sparked them or maybe they realized finally they haven 't been the same US side we all know and love. What ever it was, the US finally showed in a large stage what it is capable of. Did this game make me a believer... Not yet, but what it did do was show when they have the desire, the heart, and passion they are capable of anything. This is the American side I know. Which US side will show up for the Spain game? I hope to see this side of the Americans, the side that has a huge chip on their shoulder. I hope I never see the side that gave up against Italy, or the side that decided to give the game away to Brazil. For this US supporter this game was the best Birthday/Fathers day gift a guy could ask for, I only ask if they can give me an early Christmas present and show me more against Spain. I know it's a tall order, but all I am asking for is for a fight, win or lose... Fight!

Bob Bradley's Plan?

I think I finally figured out Bradley's plan. While the world is watching at the Confederations Cup, play as bad as possible, so at next year's World Cup, every one will expect an easy win, and then we'll surprise them. It's the old White Men Can't Jump hustle.

How else do you explain 6 goals against, 1 goal for (PK), and two red cards in 2 matches.

Brilliant!

Most hated man in the U.S.

Giuseppe Rossi scored twice in the second half and Daniele De Rossi had a goal as Italy rallied to overcome a Landon Donovan penalty kick and beat the United States 3-1 Monday night in its opener at the FIFA Confederations Cup. Let's hear it, what did you think of the game? Was Clarks red card deserved? Did we have our best 11 on the field? Did anyone else think Benny F. played a horrible game? I'm still confused as to where the fight is in the US team. No attitude, no chip on their shoulder, everythings seems as laid back as Dempsey's I don't feel like playing attitude. Help me out guys, cause I'm at a loss with our teams lack of bite, that Killer instinct.

Starting XI

The US Soccer blog posted the starting XI for today's game vs Italy. Based on reports from practice, I expect them to line-up as follows:

----------------Altidore----------------
Donovan-------Feilhaber-----Dempsey
------------Clark------Bradley---------
Bornstein--DeMerit--Onyewu--Spector
-----------------Howard---------------

It's not our strongest line-up, but not our worst either. The big questions are:

1. How will DeMerit fill in for Los? I have confidence that DeMerit will be solid in the back, but
I'm not sure how he will play along side Gooch and if he'll be able to bring the same kind of presence that Los does.

2. With only one forward, will we threaten Italy at all? With Feilhaber in the middle, we should be able to keep some possession, but he needs attackers to pass to. Donovan and Dempsey will be called upon to track back, but the key to our attacking success will be their ability to get forward and give Feilhaber passing options. If Donovan and Dempsey end up too deep defensively, this could turn into a long game.

3. How will Bornstein perform at left back? I don't really need to elaborate on our left back issues do I?

I'll leave you with one promising statistic; the U.S. has never lost to Italy outside of Italy.

Enjoy the game.

Running Riot!

Fernando Torres scored three goals in the first 17 minutes, powering Spain to a 5-0 rout of New Zealand on Sunday on the opening day of the Confederations Cup.

The European champions stretched their unbeaten run to 33 games, two shy of Brazil’s record.

Torres beat New Zealand goalkeeper Glen Moss with a curling shot, a redirected ball and a header. Cesc Fabregas and David Villa also scored. Villa now has 29 career goals for Spain, second on the country’s scoring list.

Spain leads Group A with three points and will next play Iraq, which held host South Africa to a 0-0 draw

Watching the game today I felt really bad that New Zealand had to play the Spanish giants in their first game of the Confederations Cup. I don't think the the win was a big surprise to anyone, I'm just surprised how excited Spain was each time they scored. Sure it's great to score, but is it really that huge to score against a team ranked 82nd in the world? Is this a taste of things to come in the tourney as far as score-line with all the weaker teams? Will the US suffer similar defeats? Who is your favorite to win the Cup? What's with the US always getting the raw deal in grouping (as I laugh to myself with that question)?

U.S. off to South Africa

That headline will be a lot more exciting to say next year. Even though it’s not the World Cup, I’m still pumped for the Confederations Cup. We get to see how our boys stack up against the world’s best a year ahead of the big cup. I truly believe that we have the talent to be one of the top five footballing nations, so the anticipation for this tournament is huge. Unfortunately, that anticipation is cooled off by the realization that as long as Bob Bradley is the coach of this team we will never realize that potential.

Bradley released the 23 man roster for the Confederations Cup and it’s about what I expected from him. I don’t think it’s the best roster we have, but still has enough talent to make a play for the cup. However, I suspect that the talent on the roster that could lead us to triumph will spend more time keeping the bench warm than scoring goals. So, I’ll get to it and let you see the roster.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern)

DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (Midtjylland ), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Xerez), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Charlie Davies (Hammarby), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

The biggest surprise on the roster is Luis Robles, but since he’s the third choice keeper, it should be a good chance to get a young keeper some experience and let the coaching staff get a good look at him. Conor Casey was a surprise to start against Honduras, so that makes it less of surprise to see him on this roster. If we had a real coach it would still be a surprise to see him on this roster since he spent most of the game kicking the ball out of bounds, but since Bradley is running things, it’s what we have come to expect.

So how do we win with this squad? I think this lineup would produce a few upsets in South Africa:
------------------------Altidore-------------------
-----------------Adu-----------Donovan--------
Torres-------------Feilhaber---------Beasley
Pearce—Bocanegra—Onyewu--Spector
-----------------------Howard---------------------

This lineup would get Donovan, Adu and Feilhaber all on the field at once which I believe is the key to our success. These are players that can control the game and create opportunities for themselves and their teammates. Adu’s ability to hold the ball under pressure and beat one player causing the opponents defense to get off balance and then make a decisive pass is something that we lack, and desperately need if we want to compete with the big boys. Feilhaber is a great presence in the midfield. He is able to slow the game down and relieve pressure by making the simple passes and keeping possession. He can also make that killer pass to spring his teammates in on goal. Having Adu, Donovan and Feilhaber all on the field together will give the U.S. a dynamic we have not seen. It’s this dynamic that will transform us from a solid team to a great team.

I know most of you are probably wondering; where’s Dempsey? Where’s Bradley? And how do we defend without two hacks in the center of midfield. Well, don’t worry, White Kix has those answers. First, let’s tackle Dempsey. I’ve heard he just came off a great year with Fulham. To be honest, I haven’t seen him play much this year on the club level, but I have seen his performances for the Nats, and they just have not been good enough. Using just the recent Honduras game as an example gives plenty of ammunition to my claim. It was Dempsey’s patent flick the ball behind my heal and fall over move that lead to Honduras’ goal. Then he decided to try that same move for the next 45 minutes with the same outcome each time. Yes, he did a few good things. He played a few good balls wide to Spector and did keep the corner in play that lead to the game winning goal, but one header and a few good balls should be demanded out of our players. It should not be enough to keep a starting job. Also, his Honduras defensive play of the game he made on Feilhaber’s cross was appalling. It must have taking all his concentration and skill to make sure that the ball didn’t end up in the back of the Honduras net.

Now onto Michael Bradley, why is he not in the lineup? Well, because he is not a good passer, is not much of a defender and he accumulates cards like an American Express Advisors bowl at Subway. He is not the integral part of our team that his father has lead many to believe. Again, just take a look at the Honduras game. It was one of the few times we have seen the team without him this year, and it was one of our best games.

Finally, on to the last burning question; how do we defend without two hacks in the center of midfield? Well, Feilhaber, Adu and Donovan can all keep possession of the ball. Torres and Beasley will help keep the ball as well. What does that have to do with defending? Nothing, but as long as we have the ball, the other team can’t score. If you don’t believe in this line of logic, just go ask the Spaniards or the Brazilians about it.

I know we won’t see this lineup in South Africa, and that’s exactly why Bradley needs to go. Yes, we will get to the World Cup, but simply because we have too much talent not to. But when it comes to performing on the big stage, Bradley is not the guy to lead us. Our players can compete with the best on the field, now we need a coach who can compete with the best on the sideline.

Confederations Cup Schedule:
Date Opponent Time TV
Monday June 15 Italy 2:30 P.M. ET ESPN
Thursday June 18 Brazil 10:00 A.M. ET ESPN2
Sunday June 21 Egypt 2:30 P.M. ET ESPN2