A is for And we're back! After about a year and a half away from the blogging game, the blog is back. If you know me, you know how it is with me and sports. Just can't stay away. Gonna try and do a piece every Sunday, we'll see how it goes.
B is for the Brooklyn Nets. Thought to be a legitimate challenger to the Miami Heat in the NBA's Eastern Conference with a core of Kevin Garnett (15 All-Star Games, 1 MVP), Joe Johnson (6 All-Star Games), Paul Pierce (10 All-Star Games), Deron Williams (3 All-Star Games), and Brook Lopez (1 All-Star Game), the Nets dealt the Heat their first loss of the season back on November 1st, 101-100. Since that time though? Just 5 wins in 18 games and with a record of 6-14, they sit tied for 12th place in the Eastern Conference. Of their projected starting five, only Johnson has appeared in every game with Williams missing 11, Lopez 7, Pierce 5 and Garnett 2. On top of that Garnett's averaged a career low 6.5 points per game while shooting just 36% from the field. Their only saving grace? The East is so weak this season that the 8th place Bulls are just 8-10, a mere 3 games up on the Nets.
Photo Credit: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports
C is for Cano. Robinson Cano and the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a 10 year, $240M contract as the AL West just keeps loading up on star power. The 31 year old second baseman has enjoyed 4 straight all-star seasons, and in the past five years has never hit less than .302 while adding at least 25 homers, 85 runs batted in, and 41 doubles. Seattle used 5 different second basemen in 2013 (Nick Franklin, Dustin Ackley, Robert Andino, Carlos Triunfel and Brad Miller), but none of them can compete with Cano in terms of numbers. In fact, the five of them combined to hit fewer homers (24) than Cano did last season (27). Still, 10 year contracts are a dangerous thing as evidenced to those previously given to Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. That said, it's a definite upgrade for the Mariners right now.
Can you explain the MLS's designated player rule? The most I know about it is that teams are limited to 3 designated players. Which seems kinda odd to me cause I would think everybody on the team would be a designated player. - Cory L., Raceland, LA
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
Nicknamed "the Beckham Rule," the Designated Player Rule was adopted as part of MLS's salary cap regulations for the 2007 season. The rule allows each MLS franchise to sign up to three players
that would be considered outside of the team's salary cap (either by
offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee for the
player), allowing MLS teams to compete for star players in the
international soccer market. In a nutshell, it's a way for the league to either bring in talented foreign players or keep our better domestic players in the league by being able to offer them more money without incurring a penalty.
Each club has two Designated Player slots and clubs are allowed to
“purchase” a third Designated Player slot for a one-time fee of $250,000
that will be dispersed in the form of allocation money to all clubs
that do not have three Designated Players. Clubs will not have to buy
the third DP roster slot to accommodate Designated Players 23 years old
and younger. Designated Player slots are not tradable.
Here's a list of the league's current designated players:
Álvaro Fernández (Uruguay) - Chicago Fire Sherjill MacDonald (Netherlands) - Chicago Fire Oswaldo Minda (Ecuador) - Chivas USA Hamdi Salihi (Albania) - D.C. United Fabián Castillo (Colombia) - FC Dallas David Ferreira (Colombia) - FC Dallas Julian de Guzman (Canada) - FC Dallas Oscar Boniek Garcia (Honduras) - Houston Dynamo Landon Donovan (USA) - Los Angeles Galaxy David Beckham (England) - Los Angeles Galaxy Robbie Keane (Ireland) - Los Angeles Galaxy Marco Di Vaio (Italy) - Montreal Impact Shalrie Joseph (Grenada) - New England Revolution Jerry Bengtson (Honduras) - New England Revolution Thierry Henry (France) - New York Red Bulls Rafael Marquez (Mexico) - New York Red Bulls Tim Cahill (Australia) - New York Red Bulls Freddy Adu (USA) - Philadelphia Union Diego Chará (Colombia) - Portland Timbers Kris Boyd (Scotland) - Portland Timbers Álvaro Saborío (Costa Rica) - Real Salt Lake Javier Morales (Argentina) - Real Salt Lake Fredy Montero (Colombia) - Seattle Sounders FC Mauro Rosales (Argentina) - Seattle Sounders FC Danny Koevermans (Netherlands) - Toronto FC Torsten Frings (Netherlands) - Toronto FC Eric Hassli (France) - Toronto FC Barry Robson (Scotland) - Vancouver Whitecaps FC Kenny Miller (Scotland) - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Michael Bradley just made a move to AS Roma. Chievo Verona got $4.6M and half-ownership interests in Romanian Adrian Stoian. Who got the better end of that deal and is that a good move for Bradley? - Cory L., Raceland, LA
Photo Credit: espn.go.com
There's no question that Roma is a better team than Chievo Verona and the addition of Bradley makes them that much more competitive and a favorite to grab a spot in a postseason tournament. In that regard, Roma is getting the better end of this deal as they get a starting central midfielder while giving up less than $5M and a 21 year old prospect who spent last season playing in Serie B. Stoian may turn out to be sensational, it's too early to tell, but for what Roma's looking to do right now and what the addition of Bradley means for them this season, it was an easy decision to pull the trigger.
As for how the move affects Bradley, I love it. After a terrific debut season in Serie A he now goes to a better team which, assuming he can win a starting job, will only help further his development as a player. And that is exactly what the U.S. Men's National Team needs from him right now. The move seems to be working out well so far as Bradley tallied a goal in this week's exhibition game against Liverpool.
There's been a lot of talk as to whether or not this Spanish National team is the best team ever to be assembled. Pele seems to think his Brazilian team from the 70s was better. How do you see it? - Cory L., Raceland, LA
Photo Credit: wired868.com
That's a tough one. Pelé's 1970 World Cup Champion Brazil team outscored its opponents 19-7 in 6 games en route to a perfect tournament. Three times in the tournament they scored at least 4 goals led by Jairzinho's seven and four more from that guy Pelé who you might have heard of. On the other side of the coin you have the 2012 Spain squad. Spain went 8-0 in Euro 2012 Qualifying outscoring their opponents 26-6, and then went on to go unbeaten and conceded just one goal in six games en route to the Euro 2012 Championship. It's worth noting though that Spain did draw with both Italy (1-1 in group play) and Portugal (0-0 before winning on penalties in the semifinals). If we're talking best team ever, I don't think you can have those kinds of slip-ups. Advantage: Brazil. However, don't forget that Spain won this last tournament without David Villa and without Carles Puyol. If they'd had both of them healthy then you might have a real debate on your hands.
There are plenty of rumors rolling around the Deuce may be headed to Liverpool. It's also widely reported that Deuce wants to play Champions League ball. Liverpool is not going to be playing in the Champions League this season. Something is not adding up. Can you help me to understand the "logic" involved here? - Cory L., Raceland, LA
Photo Credit: guardian.co.uk
To me Liverpool doesn't make a lot of sense. Well, let me rephrase. The move makes a lot of sense to Liverpool. Dempsey would pair nicely with Steven Gerrard in the midfield and this move coupled with a couple others could make Liverpool a serious contender again. But as you said, Liverpool isn't playing in the Champions League this year. Maybe Dempsey grew up a huge Liverpool fan and that's who he's always wanted to play for. Otherwise, I'm as confused as you are. I'm still waiting for PSG to swoop in and make Deuce an offer. I could see him and Zlatan Ibrahimović teaming up to be quite a tandem. And yeah, PSG is playing in the Champions League this season.
That does it for this issue. As always a special thanks to everyone who wrote in. And remember, as the great G$ Meyer says Reading is for Winners, especially when you read Smitty's Mailbag.
Got a question for the mailbag? Click on the link at the top of the
page or email us directly at smittysports.blogspot@hotmail.com.
The Euro 2012 Semifinals are set with Portugal taking on Spain on Wednesday and Germany taking on Italy on Thursday. Let's take a quick look at each of the four remaining teams:
SPAIN (World Ranking - 1)
Photo Credit: voxxi.com
Tourney Results:
D 1-1 vs Italy
W 4-0 vs Ireland
W 1-0 vs Croatia
W 2-0 vs France
vs Portugal
Leading Scorers - Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fábregas - 2
Assist Leader - David Silva - 3
Worth Noting - Spain defeated Portugal 1-0 at the 2010 World Cup by a score of 1-0. While goalscorer David Villa won't be there for the rematch, much of the squad that outshot the Portuguese 19-9 and dominated the game with 60% possession is returning.
PORTUGAL (World Ranking - 10)
Photo Credit: 3news.co.nz
Tourney Results:
L 1-0 vs Germany
W 3-2 vs Denmark
W 2-1 vs Netherlands
W 1-0 vs Czech Republic
vs Spain
Leading Scorer - Cristiano Ronaldo - 3
Assist Leaders - João Moutinho, Nani - 2
Worth Noting - Portugal has only reached the Euro Cup Final one time back in 2004 when they were the host nation. Considered the favorites going into the Final, they were shocked 1-0 by Greece on a goal from Angelos Charisteas.
GERMANY (World Ranking - 3)
Photo Credit: stadiumastro.com
Tourney Results:
W 1-0 vs Portugal
W 2-1 vs Netherlands
W 2-1 vs Denmark
W 4-2 vs Greece
vs Italy
Leading Scorer - Mario Gomez - 3
Assist Leader - Mesut Özil - 3
Worth Noting - Germany is now 14-0 in Euro Qualifying and Euro Cup matches during this tournament. The Germans have outscored their opponents 43-11 during that stretch and scored 3 or more goals in 9 of those matches.
ITALY (World Ranking - 12)
Photo Credit: nbcsports.msnbc.com
Tourney Results:
D 1-1 vs Spain
D 1-1 vs Croatia
W 2-0 vs Ireland
D 0-0 vs England (won 4-2 on penalties)
Leading Scorers - Andrea Pirlo, Antonio Cassano,
Antonio Di Natale,
Mario Balotelli - 1
Assist Leader - Andrea Pirlo - 2
Worth Noting - Italy defeated the Germans in the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany by a score of 2-0 getting goals in the 119th and 121st minutes. That would set the stage for Italy's fourth World Cup Title which they'd claim after a shootout win against the French.
Things are about to get busy for the U.S. Men's National team as they prepare for three friendly matches - vs Scotland (5/26), vs Brazil (5/30) and at Canada (6/3) - prior to kicking off World Cup Qualifying against Antigua & Barbuda on June 8th. Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann has invited 27 players to camp as the team gets ready for its busy stretch. Here's a look at the invitees:
KEEPERS
Tim Howard - Everton - A staple in net for the Americans, the 33 year old Everton netminder just wrapped up another solid season in the English Premier League. Howard played every minute of all 38 regular season games for Everton posting a record of 15-12-11 while contributing 12 clean sheets as Everton finished the year in 7th place. Howard last appeared for the National Team in the 1-0 upset win over Italy in February. He has 73 appearances and 26 shutouts in his international career.
1) The hat Ben Roethlisberger wore after last night's 20-3 loss to San Francisco was ridiculous. Do you think he lost a bet or something? Was he headed to a rolling 20s party after the game? Did he marry Sarah Marshall? Or maybe he's just doing it so I'm talking about his hat instead of talking about his 3 interceptions.
Photo Credit: yfrog.com
2) Pittsburgh Steelers Defensive End Brett Keisel's beard is out of control. In a totally awesome sort of way. If my little brother is reading this, this is what you should aspire to look like.
Photo Credit: nowpublic.com
3) The Clippers are going to be in the Sportscenter Top Ten a lot this season. Between Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, it's going to be just a whole lot of dunks in what's already being deemed Lob City. This is Jordan in last night's statement game (if there is a such thing in the preseason) against the Lakers. Notice he dunks over Pau Gasol (7'0") and Andrew Bynum (7'0").
4) Abby Wambach was voted the AP Female Athlete of the Year becoming the first individual soccer player (male or female) to win one of the AP's annual awards. U.S. goalie Hope Solo finished second in the voting which supports the conclusion that she should stick with soccer and not dancing. Congratulations, Abby. Well deserved.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Lots to talk about since I wasn't able to get on the blog the past few days. Here's a quick rundown on what's going on in the sports world:
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
As much as I hate to admit it, it looks like we're going to have a rematch of LSU-Alabama in the National Championship Game this year. LSU took care of business against third ranked Arkansas on Friday afternoon overcoming an early 14-0 deficit and routing the Razorbacks 41-17. Alabama similarly took care of business taking on rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl and winning 42-14. Idle Oklahoma State is a distant third and even a win over Oklahoma coupled with an LSU loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game probably won't be enough to significantly close the gap.
Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com
Now I'd love to make a case for just about anyone else that they deserve to play in the National Championship Game just so we can avoid a rematch of what I found to be a very unenjoyable football game. Say what you want about it being a great battle between two great defenses, and I grant you, both teams play defense at an extremely high level, but it was a hard game to watch. And as good as both defenses were, both offenses were pretty inept. Anyhow, the fact is, that no matter how much I want to avoid that matchup, there aren't any other teams that deserve to be there more than these two. Of the 5 other one or zero loss teams in the Top 25, there's only two that you could even make a halfway-compelling argument for: Oklahoma State and Houston.
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
Oklahoma State has just the one loss, in double overtime on the road to Iowa State, just days after the tragic death of Oklahoma State's women's basketball coach. But Iowa State is not a great team, just 3-5 in the Big 12. Iowa State lost by 35 to a Missouri team that Oklahoma State beat by 21. So that doesn't help the Cowboys at all. When you compare that to Alabama whose only loss is to unbeaten LSU, it doesn't stack up well. Now granted Oklahoma State can win the Big 12 with a win over Oklahoma on Saturday whereas Alabama won't even play in its conference title game let alone win it. But unfortunately, that's not a prerequisite to playing for the National Championship. And so we move on.
Photo Credit: fantasycollegeblitz.com
Houston is the only other team that I feel really has a compelling argument as the Cougars sit at 12-0 with just a showdown with 24th ranked Southern Miss remaining on their schedule. The problem is that while Houston hasn't lost to anyone, they also haven't really beaten anyone. Look at their schedule:
W vs UCLA 38-34
W @ North Texas 48-23
W @ Louisiana Tech 35-34
W vs Georgia State 56-0
W @ UTEP 49-42
W vs East Carolina 56-3
W vs Marshall 63-28
W vs Rice 73-34
W @ UAB 56-13
W @ Tulane 73-17
W vs SMU 37-7
W @ Tulsa 48-16
Conference USA only has 4 teams with winning records including Houston, and Houston still hasn't played Southern Miss (those two will play each other in the Conference USA Championship Game) so that means, out of their 8 conference games, they beat two teams that finished the year over .500. The whole conference only has 5 wins against AQ schools. Houston beat UCLA, Southern Miss beat Virginia, Marshall beat Louisville, UCF beat Boston College and Rice beat Purdue. I suppose it's also worth mentioning that Southern Methodist beat TCU. Still, not much there. So while it's great that Houston took care of business, the fact that Conference USA wasn't very good, and they haven't yet played the only other ranked team in their conference works against them. Ultimately it's not even enough to vault them over Oklahoma State let alone Alabama.
So here we are, apparently destined for a rematch. We can only hope that maybe this time someone will find the end zone.
NBA
Photo Credit: blazeoflove.com
Just when it looked like there might not be an NBA season this year, the NBA players and owners appear to have made a deal. A tentative agreement was reached on Saturday which means barring any setbacks, we'll be looking at a 66 game season featuring 48 in-conference games for each team, starting on Christmas Day. Training Camps will open up on December 9th. Time for me to start looking at Hornets tickets!
NFL
*The Houston Texans just cannot catch a break. Well, maybe that's a poor choice of words. All indications are that second string quarterback Matt Leinart broke his collarbone on Sunday in his first start after the Texans placed starter Matt Schaub on the Injured Reserve with a lisfranc injury. That means, that as of right now, the fate of the Texans season lies in the hands of rookie T.J. Yates. It's just an unbelievable run of bad luck for a team that's poised to win its first division title and make the postseason for the first time. Yates played a little over half of Sunday's 20-13 win over Jacksonville and while he drove them 40 yards for a field goal just before halftime, the Texans managed just 47 yards and 2 first downs after the break. The only other quarterback currently on the Texans' roster is Kellen Clemens. Clemens made 9 starts in 5 years with the Jets, but has not thrown a touchdown pass since 2007.
Photo Credit: mysanantonio.com
*Is anyone even surprised anymore when the Broncos win? Denver pulled out a 16-13 overtime win on the road as the Broncos improved to 6-5 overall, and 5-1 with Tim Tebow as their starter. The Broncos came back from an early 10-0 deficit, and Tebow led both the game-tying drive (68 yards on 9 plays with under 6 minutes to play in the 4th quarter) and the game winning drive (38 yards on 6 plays setting up the winning kick with 29 second left in overtime). The Broncos ran for over 200 yards yet again and Tebow did just enough completing 9 of 18 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown. Tebow also had 22 carries, the most by a quarterback in an NFL game since 1950. For all the talk about Tebow though, you can't talk about the Broncos recent success without mentioning their defense. The Broncos defense has only given up 36 points over the last 3 weeks and playmakers Elvis Dumervil, rookie Vonn Miller and company are all playing at the top of their games. It's reminiscent of those old Bucs teams from the late 90s / early 2000s where they had a tough defense, grinding run game, and just-good-enough quarterback play. Regardless, it's working and you can't do much better than 5 wins in 6 games...
Photo Credit: mydesert.com
*Unless you're Green Bay that is. The Packers 27-15 win over the Lions on Thanksgiving Day means the Packers are now 5 wins away from the third perfect regular season in the Super Bowl era. Aaron Rodgers threw two more touchdown passes giving him at least two in every game this season, 33 in all, to go along with just four interceptions. The Packers are at the Giants this coming Sunday, then host the Raiders, travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs and finish with divisional home games against the Bears and Lions. And don't forget the best part. Now we can look forward to potentially a month's worth of interviews with Mercury Morris talking about how great the '72 Dolphins were. Yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!
SOCCER
American Samoa's dream run is over. The country that snapped a 30 game losing streak dating back to 1994 and won for the first time in their nation's history last week followed their first ever win with a 1-1 draw Cook Islands and put themselves in the improbable position of advancing to the 2012 OFC Nations Cup with a win over rival Samoa. Alas they fell just short as Silao Malo scored in the 89th minute giving Samoa the 1-0 win and the right to advance to the next round of World Cup Qualifying.
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! Let's start off with the three NFL Games we have today:
Photo Credit: jerseyal.com
Green Bay at Detroit - Until somebody beats the Packers, it's really hard to pick against them. Aaron Rodgers is playing football at an unreal level. 31 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions. The Lions just gave up 35 points to Cam Newton and the Panthers. I don't see them slowing down the Pack Attack. Pick: Packers
Miami at Dallas - The Dolphins have quietly won three straight with Matt Moore under center. The Oregon State alum is unbeaten this November with 6 touchdowns and just 1 interception while completing over 70% of his passes. On the other side of the ball, Tony Romo hasn't exactly been a slouch. The emergence of a running game with DeMarco Murray has really opened up the Dallas passing game. I like Romo and Company at home. Pick: Cowboys
San Francisco at Baltimore - The inaugural Harbaugh Bowl as brothers Jim and John coach against one another for the first time. The 49ers have just one loss while the Ravens are a picture of inconsistency. The 49ers are making the trip across the country on short rest and I think that works against them. Look for the Ravens defense to really put pressure on Alex Smith and the 49er offense. Pick: Ravens
Last Week: 8-6
Season: 104-56
FRED JACKSON DONE FOR THE SEASON
Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com
A storybook beginning to the 2011 season has quickly turned sour for the Buffalo Bills. After starting the season 5-2 with wins over the Patriots and Eagles, the Bills have dropped three in a row by a combined score of 106-26. And to make matters worse the Bills dynamic running back Fred Jackson, second in the league in yards from scrimmage, has been placed on injured reserve meaning he's now out for the rest of the season. Jackson has a broken bone in his right leg which means C.J. Spiller will have to carry the load in Buffalo's backfield. The former first round pick out of Clemson has just 21 carries this season for 115 yards. Not the production they were hoping for when the used the 9th pick in the 2010 draft on him. Time for Spiller to step up. The 5-5 Bills are counting on him if they're to have any hope in saving their season. Buffalo takes on the Jets this weekend in the Meadowlands. The Jets started Buffalo's recent slide with a 27-11 win in Buffalo 3 weeks ago.
DERON WILLIAMS SCORES 50 FOR BESIKTAS
Photo Credit: nationalturk.com
Still no NBA basketball, but Deron Williams appears to be in midseason form. Playing in Turkey for Besiktas, Williams score 50 points in a 105-94 victory over German squad Göttingen in the EuroChallenge. The New Jersey point guard hit 17 of 23 shots from the field including 7 of 10 3-pointers, and also converted 9 of 11 free throws. Williams' career high in the NBA is 42 points, set in 2010 against the Thunder. Williams efforts earned him the tournament's weekly MVP honors as improves Besiktas to 3-0 in EuroChallenge play.
WILD BRIEFLY SIGN 51 YEAR OLD GOALIE
Photo Credit: seattlepi.com
With starting goalie Niklas Backstrom unavailable on Wednesday and his minor league replacement Matt Hackett not scheduled to land in Minnesota under 30 minutes before the opening faceoff, the Minnesota Wild found themselves with a potential goalie crisis. Not wanting to risk starting the game without a backup goalie, the Wild signed 51 year old recreational hockey player Paul Deutsch to an amateur tryout contract to be their emergency backup against the Predators. As fate would have it, Hackett showed up moments before the start of the game so Deutsch was scratched ending his improbable chance of playing in an NHL game. Deutsch, who plays recreational hockey in Minnesota, runs a screen printing and embroidery store outside of St. Paul, and though never an NHL player, he had been used in Wild practices in the past.
AMERICAN SAMOA WINS FIRST EVER SOCCER MATCH
Photo Credit: cfnews13.com
After 30 straight losses over 17 years, American Samoa - ranked 204th in the World - finally won their first soccer match defeated Tonga 2-1 in 2014 World Cup Qualifying. After having been outscored 229-12 since starting international play in 1994 - including a record 31-0 loss to Australia back in 2001 - American Samoa got goals from Ramin Ott and Kaneti
Falela and then held on for their first ever win. American Samoa will face the Cook Islands today and Samoa on Saturday to conclude the first round of Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) World Cup Qualifying. The winner of the group will advance to the second round where they'll be in an 8 team group with New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, and Papua New Guinea. American Samoa's squad is coached by former U.S. U-20 and MLS Head Coach Thomas Rongen.
MONTREAL IMPACT ADD TALENT THROUGH DRAFT/TRADES
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
The Montreal Impact selected Brian Ching with the first overall pick in this year's expansion draft as they get set to join the league in 2012. The Impact also added Chivas USA striker Justin Braun, Philadelphia midfielder Justin Mapp, Colorado midfielder Sanna Nyassi and Chivas USA defender Zarek Valentin. For a complete look at the expansion draft results, click here.
Seems like just the other day that we were watching the 2010 World Cup, but qualifying for the 2014 Tournament in Brazil is already upon us. Today schedules for Round 3 of CONCACAF qualifying were released and the U.S. finds themselves in a group with Jamaica, Guatemala and Antigua & Barbuda. The U.S. will play each team in their group twice with the top two teams from each of the three groups advancing to the next round. Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guyana make up Group B while Honduras, Cuba, Canada and Panama make up Group C.
Photo Credit: examiner.com
Jamaica is obviously the biggest threat in the U.S.'s group, but in 18 meetings, the U.S. has never lost to them going 10-0-8. That said, the U.S. has never won on Jamaican soil during World Cup Qualifying drawing all 4 matches between the two teams. The two teams last met in this summer's Gold Cup in the Quarterfinals in a match the U.S. won 2-0 on the strength of goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey.
Photo Credit: blogs.fayobserver.com
While Guatemala has the lowest FIFA ranking out of any of the teams in Group A, they certainly aren't a team that the U.S. can overlook. In 21 matches between the two sides, Guatemala actually has won 4 and drawn 5 others. The Guatemalans looked strong in the second round of qualifying going 6-0 in a group that consisted of Belize, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. Guatemala outscored their opponents 19-3 in the round.
Photo Credit: zizouandbecks.wordpress.com
Antigua & Barbuda are a bit of a wild card as the United States has never faced them. Currently ranked 90th in the world, they too turned in a strong showing in the second round going 5-1 and finishing ahead of Haiti, Curaçao, and the U.S. Virgin Islands while tallying 26 goals, the most of any time in the round. Peter Byers, who plays professionally for the Los Angeles Blues of the USL Pro Division (the league below the A League) led the way with 8 goals while Tamarley Thomas chimed in with 6 goals of his own.
Photo Credit: flickr.com
The U.S. will open up play on June 8th against Antigua & Barbuda at home. Here's a look at the U.S.'s qualifying schedule:
6/8/12 - vs Antigua & Barbuda
6/12/12 - @ Guatemala
9/7/12 - @ Jamaica
9/11/12 - vs Jamaica
10/12/12 - @ Antigua & Barbuda
10/16/12 - vs Guatemala
The growing pains continue for the United States under Jurgen Klinsmann as they were shut out for the 4th time in 6 matches under their new head coach losing 1-0 in France today. It was more of the same for the United States as they once again failed to generate serious chances, and eventually fell victim to a breakdown at the back. This time it was Marseilles midfielder Loic Remy who got on the end of a pass from Marvin Martin, fought off a challenge from Clarence Goodson and then buried a shot near post past Tim Howard for the game's only goal.
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
Now let's be clear, there's no shame in losing a match to France on their home field. The French are ranked 15th in the world and haven't lost since September of 2010 when they dropped their opening match in Euro 2012 Qualifying to Belarus. Additionally their roster is loaded with talent including international stars Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) and Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal). Losing to France isn't the problem. The problem is we're not getting any better.
Six games into the Klinsmann era the offense still isn't clicking. The 4-5-1 formation we are using hasn't been producing and not only do we not create a lot of opportunities, we haven't been able to capitalize on other team's mistakes. It's probably too soon to abandon the formation in favor of something else, so the right move is to probably stay the course, but as an outside observer I can't help but wonder if this group might be served better running out of a 4-4-2. Anyhow... Brek Shea, who had been playing at such a high level in recent matches, appeared merely pedestrian in today's match as the midfield was forced to once again line up without Landon Donovan. I appreciate the fact that Klinsmann hasn't had his two best field players (Donovan and Dempsey) on the pitch at the same time through his first 6 matches as head coach, but to me this speaks to a shocking lack of depth that we cannot produce without both of them in the lineup. And now match after match, Tim Howard is forced into being our best player. And
don't get me wrong, he's an unreal goalie who we're lucky to have, but
to depend on him night in and night out to make every save with the game
seemingly always on the line is unrealistic. Hopefully we get some better results next week when they head to Slovenia.
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
I will say though, the match was not completely without bright spots. Jozy Altidore played really well up top in the lone striker role. He used his body well and did an excellent job of holding the ball once it was played into him. I suppose the next step is building play off of that, but it was nice to see him involved. Then there was Dempsey who turned in his typical workmanlike performance. And finally, I thought the guys at the back - Bocanegra, Goodson, Cherundolo and Timmy Chandler - were solid. Sure there was the one breakdown, but the group only allowed one goal to a solid French attack on the road. So there were certainly good things to take away from today's game. But with World Cup Qualifying right around the corner, we're going to need more and we're going to need it soon. Someone is going to have to step up and make a play in one of these upcoming friendlies and hopefully it's contagious. A positive result or two would be huge in terms of a confidence builder before these matches actually start counting.
So, here we are again dealing with the ESPN Desk Calendar and it's bogus trivia questions & answers and just a general lack of QA. This one isn't as bad as the others:
First of all, I don't love the question. Personally I would've preferred to see them add in 'in the Championship Game of the 1999 Women's World Cup'. But whatever, I mean, I still knew what the question was asking. What bothers me is the answer: "Brandy Chastain". While this answer is acceptable to the ear, let's be clear on something.
This is Brandy:
This is Brandi:
Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com
It's not like we're talking Marc Rzcepzynski, Mike Krzyzewski, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, or any number of other difficult names that get spelled on a regular basis in the Sports World. This was an easy one. I mean, come on. The National Spelling Bee airs on ESPN each year.
Good job ESPM Desc Calinder.
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It was announced today that the U.S. will be taking on Slovenia in a friendly next month in a rematch of one of the more exciting games of the 2010 World Cup. The U.S., who will be playing in France just four days prior, will stay overseas and play in Slovenia for the first time on the 15th of November. Slovenia, ranked 33rd in World, recently finished 4th in Group C in the 2012 European Championship Qualifying Round with a record of 4-4-2. A 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland cost them a chance to advance as they finished just 2 points behind second place Estonia. Here's a clip of highlights from the 2010 World Cup match between the U.S. and Slovenia:
For the third time in five games under Jurgen Klinsmann, the U.S. Men's National Team was shutout and met defeat as they dropped a 1-0 friendly against Ecuador Tuesday night. The result was particularly disappointing as the United States certainly created more chances during the match, but thanks to one breakdown in the back, they come away with nothing to show for their efforts.
While there were certainly a lot of bright spots for the United States in last night's match - Brek Shea's continuing to emerge as a star in the making, Oguchi Onyewu turning in a solid performance at center back, Timmy Chandler showing himself to be a capable left back, and the dependable Clint Dempsey turning in his typical gritty performance - the one glaring issue remains: We cannot score goals. And more than that, we just don't seem to possess gifted goal scorers up top.
Photo Credit: thesoccerhooligan.com
The two highest scoring players in the National Team picture are Landon Donovan (46 goals) and Clint Dempsey (23 goals), but both players are far more effective on the wings than they are playing with their backs to the goal in the box. And while both players epitomize what the U.S. Team has been about in recent years - constant hustle, maximum effort, being all over the field - I feel like the goals they score come more from just wanting it more than their opponents than from superior finishing ability. Look at Donovan's goals during the World cup: against Slovenia he made a great run on the wing and got in behind the defense, against Algeria he never gave up on a play and tucked in a rebound, and then he converted a penalty against Ghana. And any questions you have about Dempsey's efforts, just look at his jersey after each game. He is always the dirtiest guy on the field at the end of the game. His goals don't typically look 'pretty', they're the product of his hard work.
Let's look beyond the two icons we have. The U.S. has a pair of promising young strikers in Jozy Altidore (age 21) and Juan Agudelo (age 18). Altidore scored 8 National Team goals before his 20th birthday, but has only scored 4 since then - he turns 22 next month. He was notably shut out during the World Cup and has struggled overseas scoring just 6 times in his first three years in Europe spending the majority of his time out on loan. But he may be turning the corner after signing with Dutch club AZ Alkmaar this season. He's already tallied 7 goals for his new side, 4 in the Europa League and 3 more in league play. He's probably the closest thing to a true striker that we have right now, but he's going to need to be more of a factor in games for the U.S. and make himself into a difference maker. Agudelo, is obviously physically gifted, but at 18 he's still pretty raw. There's no questioning his effort when he's on the field, and we've already seen that translate into goals against South Africa and Argentina, but a lot of his effort is wasted and he hasn't been able to generate as many chances as we'd like. Still, we can't lose site of the fact that he's still REALLY young. And in his first full season in MLS he's scored six goals for the Red Bulls. Plus, playing with someone like Thierry Henry can only help his development.
Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com
But then what? Who else is even available for the U.S. to play up top? Look at the leading scorers in MLS right now. Of the guys with 10 goals or more you have: Dwayne De Rosario - Canada. Thierry Henry - France. Camilo Sanvezzo - Brazil. Dominic Oduro - Ghana. Fredy Montero - Colombia. Andres Mendoza - Peru. Sebastien Le Toux - France. Alvaro Saborio - Costa Rica. Eric Hassli - France. Fabian Espindola - Argentina. Juan Pablo Angel - Colombia. Americans? There are three. Donovan, Charlie Davies and Chris Wondolowski.
Davies, pictured below, is an intriguing option at 25 who was previously very much in the National Team picture before a horrific 2009 car accident left him with a lacerated bladder, fractured right tibia and femur, a fractured elbow, multiple facial fractures, and bleeding on the brain. He's still not all the way back, but with 11 goals in MLS this season, that's certainly encouraging. Wondo, while a great story scoring 32 goals the last two MLS seasons, has appeared hopelessly overmatched at the International Level so consider him a non-factor. Remember Roy Lassiter? Think him. There are some other possibilities out there as well with guys like Teal Bunbury still in the picture, and you can't forget ex-MLSer Edson Buddle who has a pair of two-goal games for his German Club FC Ingolstadt within the past month. But let's face it, the talent pool is thin.
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
Because Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not suddenly going to walk through the door, now more than ever, one of these guys is going to have to step up. As we move closer and closer to the kickoff of World Cup Qualifying for 2014, it's imperative that we solve this issue up front. Eventually this inability to score goals and put teams away is going to come back to bite us. Who's it gonna be?
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So after watching the USA Women beat up on Canada tonight with 3 second half goals, including a pair from Abby Wambach, I was feeling pretty pro-American soccer. So I wanted to bask in the awesomeness of two of the greatest goals in American history. The question to you guys, which one was better?
On a side note, Ian Darke is just fantastic as the announcer on both of these calls.
