What a Day

I don't know if I have anything particularly insightful to add, but what a day. First Landon Donovan scores in the 91ST MINUTE off of a Clint Dempsey, allowing the US to advance to the knock-out round of the World Cup. John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are tied at 59-ALL in the fifth set at Wimbledon. The match has lasted 10 hours total; the fifth set has gone on for 7:06 alone. The second longest match in tennis history was only 6:33. And I think the guys only took one bathroom break today.

I'm excited. I'm exhausted. And I didn't participate in any form of international sport today. Let's hope tomorrow is just as fun.

World Cup Overload!!

So today is a special day in the world of soccer. It is the day that the United States announced the 23 man roster they will be taking to the World Cup ANNNNDDD it is the day that FIFA released their final rankings before the tournament begins in 15 days. So extra special goodness all around. And it kind of makes up for the US's defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic 4-2. Joy. Small rant: typical US soccer consists of 15 min of really good play and then 60 or so of playing back on our heels, crap play where we usually get scored on regardless of whether we're winning or not. All of this capped off by maybe, MAYBE the last 15 min of us playing hard. In the Confederations Cup last summer (the prequel to the World Cup) we amazingly outright beat Spain 2-nil and then went up 2-nil against Brazil only to let Brazil come back and win it in the last 20 min of the game. So yeah, the US has much to prove this year. "Endurance" is the key word as well as "depth" and "certain spark." Does the US have these qualities of winning teams? It's iffy.

Coach Bradley's 23 man roster:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan, Marcus Hahnemann, and the favorite Tim Howard. (All play in England's top league the Premier League. In my opinion the best league in the world.)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (veteran), Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo (veteran), Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu (veteran), and Jonathan Spector. (Bornstein is the only one who plays in Major League Soccer, everyone else plays abroad.)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (surprise!), Michael Bradley (NOT surprising at all, he's Coach's son, but still a good player), Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey (veteran), Landon Donovan (MAJOR veteran), Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber (love him), Stuart Holden, and Jose Torres. (Donovan is the only one who plays in Major League Soccer, but it doesn't really count because this past season at Everton was in a word, breakout and crucial for him.)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle (small surprise), Robbie Findley, and Herculez Gomez (BIG surprise considering he came out left field and is tied for the most goals in the Mexican League, the only American to ever do this in a league outside the MLS.) Buddle and Findley play in the MLS.

Bradley's roster looks promising...except in the defense category.

Forwards are scrappy with speed and something to prove. After the horrific car crash in October that left Charlie Davie struggling with tough rehab and his remarkable recovery to being able to walk, run, and play again, Davies still wasn't included in the roster. That will put an interesting spin on things. With up-and-coming Gomez and outstanding, quick Jozy Altidore, we may have a shot at scoring some amazing goals. Edson Buddle's going to be an outside man. He has the ability, but can he perform considering his last international match with the US was in 2003...? This list could go either way.

Midfield is solid. Dempsey and Donovan will lead the charge, Beasley's experience will carry him only so far, and the work rates of Bradley, Feilhaber, Holden, and Torres will lend much needed coverage in the middle plus speed on the wings.

Defense is a sore subject with me. Onyewu has been a question mark since his knee injury 6 months ago (not to mention his less than stellar performance in the 2006 World Cup) and if last night was any indicator, our defense could be shaky. Look to Cherundolo, Bocanegra, and Onyewu to lead this back squad. DeMerit, Bornstein, and Spector haven't been completely consistent as of late, but they have chances to rise to the challenge. BUT, but, but, but we have one of the top 10 goalies in the world...Mr. Tim Howard!! Howard has experience, skill and fire that will save our butts. But he can only do so much... It's not the goalie's fault if you get scored on. It's the other 10 men on the field the ball went through to get to the goalie. It's like blaming your last batter for the strike out that lost the game or blaming your safety for the opponent's touchdown. Or something...

As mentioned earlier the words of this year's World Cup for the US are "endurance," "depth," and "certain spark." Overall it's a solid roster, our veterans are going to be heavily depended on, and the newcomers could pull some fantastic moves.

FIFA rankings!! No surprises...ugh.

Top 10:

1--Brazil

2--Spain

3--Portugal

4--Netherlands

5--Italy (defending champions)

6--Germany

7--Argentina

8--England

9--France

10-Croatia

*The top eight hasn't changed since last month. The US holds steady at #14.

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html

World Cup History...and Nike attempts to beat Adidas via a commercial

And I'm back as your guest blogger for World Cup 2010! This time I'm going to give a brief history of past winners and some surprising facts. But first some tantalizing media to get your hearts pumping and minds racing. Nike has released a new, epic 3 minute commercial in which they use current soccer stars such as Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, and Ronaldinho with guest appearances by Patrice Evra, Frank Ribery, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Cesc Fabregas, and even Kobe Bryant. Now with the controversy of Ronaldinho NOT included in the 30 man roster for Brazil, Drogba's questionable fame after his repeated outbursts during his seasons at Chelsea and no clear mention of the World Cup in the commercial Nike could be biting off more than they can chew. Also the lack of legends Lionel Messi and Kaka could take away from Nike's attempt to compete with Adidas (the official World Cup sponsor). You be the judge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE&feature=player_embedded

And now on to a brief history of the 70 years of World Cup. Play began in 1930 as Uruguay hosted and subsequently won the very first world cup. Things only got better from there.

1934 host Italy, winner Italy (US placed 3rd out of 13 teams--our best finish ever)

1938 host France, winner Italy

1950 host Brazil, winner Uruguay (US beat England in an epic, history-making game. Rematch Saturday, June 12, 2010)

1954 host Switzerland, winner West Germany

1958 host Sweden, winner Brazil

1962 host Chile, winner Brazil

1966 host England, winner England

1970 host Mexico, winner Brazil

1974 host West Germany, winner West Germany

1978 host Argentina, winner Argentina

1982 host Spain, winner Italy

1986 host Mexico, winner Argentina

1990 host Italy, winner West Germany (the Berlin Wall had fallen exactly a month earlier when the pools were chosen for the 1990 world cup, so its implications had not taken effect yet)

1994 host United States, winner Brazil

1998 host France, winner France

2002 host Korea Republic/Japan, winner Brazil (the only time a joint host was allowed)

2006 host Germany, winner Italy

*France and England are the only teams to have one World Cup title. Every other winner has won at least twice.

*Brazil leads with 5 wins

*Mexico and Italy are the only countries to host a World Cup more than once.

*The 1970 and 1990 World Cups are the only times where the final four were all previous World Cup champions.

*The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world. An estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match in 2006. (Fifa.com October 11, 2009)

Next time: 2010 groups and World Cup mascots