a football fan in america

It was an exciting weekend for the United States Men’s National Team in their 1-1 draw with Argentina led by FIFPro World Player of the Year Leo Messi.

This past Saturday the United States Men took on Argentina as part of the international friendlies that have been going on for the past few days. Game was played at New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey to a crowd of 78,936.

The match was all offense for Argentina in the first half with Tim Howard being a wall in goal conceeding the only goal for Argentina in the 42nd minute to Cambiasso. Jozy Altidore did little up front to help any push the US made into the Argentine half.

Heading into the second half the US show more life especially with the substitutions of 18 year old Agudelo and 20 year old Chandler. Agudelo gave more support to Altidore up front and his efforts eventually paid off with the scoring of the only US goal on the night in the 59th minute.

The US men played well but it was Tim Howard that kept the score line low for the Argentines. Tonight the US men will match up against Paraguay in Nashville, Tennessee at LP Field. The only change to the roster is the departure of Edson Buddle who travels back to Germany to rejoin his club team FC Ingolstadt.

For those of you in the US the game will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura will broadcast the match live at 7 p.m. central time. Fans can also follow the game on the matchtracker or follow via Twitter @ussoccer

INDIVISIBLE

Make sure to root on team USA as they take on Argentina tonight at 7:00 pm ET. Game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and online at ESPN3.com

For the purpose of this blog, football will refer to American football and NOT soccer. Also, this blog contains person views as well as factual information

It seems the man who brought changing one’s name into ones jersey number, kind of his number is 85 however his name is 8-5, to the public is now trying to break into Major League Soccer. Chad Ochocinco is currently in the midst of his 4 day trial with Kansas City due to the NFL lockout.

Ochocinco has stated as a child he “dreamed of playing for a Major League Soccer team”. While dreaming of playing soccer may be true I find it hard to believe that he dreamed of playing in a league that didn’t start till he was 18.

As reported by KCTV 5 on 16 March the Sporting Kansas City staff and Ochocinco traded tweets encouraging him to come tryout for the team. While this is creating some definite media coverage to MLS, I can’t help but wonder if it is the media coverage fans of the game and the league want to have?

I reached out to my twitter followers for their opinions. Wanes531 from Cincinnati, Ohio stated “Ochocinco was already a joke. The MLS is doing whatever it can to not be a joke, this is not going to help”

Personally, I share his views in that while media coverage is good, media coverage for the wrong reason may not be the best thing for the league. Can I assume that playing softball growing up and being a fit person I could walk on to any one of the many Major League Baseball teams? I currently work in minor league baseball and trust me being in close proximity to the game and having skill does not translate into being a major or minor league player. Perhaps this is not the case for Ochocinco as the Huffington Post stated that he has posted many pictures with professional players.

What’s more shocking for me is the poll that is found on the Huffington Post article asking if the poll takers thought that Ochocinco could play soccer in Spain. To my surprise 46.78% (at the time when I myself took the poll) answered “yes, he used to play soccer”. I’d like to know who the 46.78% are who think playing soccer as a child and playing is Spain is just a simple step forward. Someone better tell Messi that a man called 8-5 is out for him.

To look at this aspect from another angle, twitter follower FballWanderlust from the UK stated that “he has the physical attributes, so if he can display any sort of technique, he’s worth looking at.” He also stated that it was the age of Ochocinco that would put him off. Chad Ochocinco is currently 33 years old, much older than the usual age for breaking into soccer and 10 years the senior to current FIFPro world player of the year Leo Messi.

So what do we think, good media coverage for MLS or turning MLS into a joke? I think you know my opinion.

Let this be a disclaimer that this piece contains my personal views as well as factual information.

OK so here’s a piece that has a little to do with the United State and football and everything to do with FIFA the governing body of international football.

Grant Wahl, American sports writer for Sports Illustrated, is running for FIFA President.

Stepp Blatter, the current FIFA President who has helped to bring you the Qatar World Cup, a World Cup that is sure to send body temperatures rising with average temperatures easily reaching 104 degrees Fahrenheit, is again running for the FIFA Presidency this June. Currently he has only Bin Hammam, President of the Asian Football Confederation running against him, however American Grant Wahl is making waves for a nomination of his own.

Many in the world are not happy with Blatter and the way FIFA is being run, this blogger included, and I suggest you not even bring his name up to anyone in England, and it seems to me it’s time for a change.

Grant Wahl announced in mid-February that he intends to run for president of FIFA, the international governing body of football. Why you may ask? In short “It gets kind of old hearing the world’ s soccer fans complain about Blatter without anyone trying to provide an alternative,” claims Wahl. Wahl has based his campaign around changing FIFA’s alleged corruption, evident through the two members of the executive committee who were caught accepting bribes prior to the December World Cup voting.

Two of the things Wahl wants to do when he becomes president amongst others:
1) Appoint a woman as general secretary, as currently there are no women on the executive committee or any of the FIFA women’s committees.
2) Release FIFA documents from the terms of Blatter’s Presidency (1998-present) to expose the suspected corruption.

As for his campaign against Bin Hammam, Wahl states that as a member of the FIFA executive committee, and ultimately the “good ol’ boy network”, Bin Hammam is incapable of producing the serious changes that FIFA needs.  

Wahl goes more in-depth with this Q and A session.

So what do you all think? He many not get the Presidency but I for one am backing Wahl.

Football is growing and expanding in the United States. While this is true when it comes to grassroots football as well as MLS women’s soccer is not developing at the same rate. Many don’t even realize that there is a professional women’s league. What’s even more disheartening is seeing things like the Chicago Red Stars having to close their doors this season after not being able to find investors and not having the funds through sales. The Red Stars will be working to rejoin WPS for the 2012 season but that depends on the people of Chicagoland as well as the support from others around the country.

There are currently 6 teams in WPS:

Boston Breakers
Philadelphia Independence
Sky Blue FC
Western New York Flash
Atlanta Beat
Washington Freedom

WPS will start their season out on 9 April with the Beat taking on the Breakers at 7:00 pm ET in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Check out the WPS schedule and head out to a game. Support the sport!

All photo can be found on the US Soccer Facebook Page

Training is being held in Cary, North Carolina

Be sure to follow US Soccer on facebook

There are many people in the US who can name you all the Major League Baseball, Football, Hockey, or Basketball teams. But when it comes to football, or soccer, the mass majority of people couldn’t name you all the teams. It’s time we change that.

Soccer is the largest sport world wide. To quote Jamie Trecker in his book Love and Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballer, Fans, and Freaks, as he is talking about the World Cup. “Simply put, there is nothing else like it. The Olympics would love to be it; the Super Bowl and World Series are merely pretenders to it; and only because we live in America is the World Cup not talked about in hushed, reverent tones as the pinnacle of civilized and sporting life.”

It’s time Americans realize that there is another league. Major League Soccer, that is expanding all over the United States. Find a team near you!

Eastern Conference:

Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
D.C. United
Houston Dynamo
New England Revolution
New York Red Bulls
Philadelphia Union
Sporting Kansas City
Toronto FC

Western Conference:

Chivas USA
Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas
LA Galaxy
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders
Vancouver Whitecaps

Check out the teams, learn the players, get involved in MLS and the largest sport in the world!

For those of you who don’t follow football you may have an idea when the men’s World Cup is going on. 2006 in Germany, 2010 in South Africa, and to come in 2014 in Brazil, but what you may not realize is there is a whole other World Cup, the women’s World Cup.

The US women’s side will head to Germany this summer for the World Cup partnered in group C with Columbia, Sweden, and Korea DPR. The women’s side will face Korea DPR for the fourth time in a row in the group phase and the thrid with Sweden. It’s a grouping that will sure to bring old rivalries to the main stage of group play. Just check out the FIFA website for what they are calling the Titans of group C.

In a lead up to their World Cup quest the women’s side will face Japan twice in May for friendly matches. The May 14th match up will be held in Columbus, Ohio at Columbus Crew Stadium kicking off at 6:30 ET. This game will air exclusively on FOX Soccer Channel as well as FOX Deportes. The second match up against the Japanses will see the women’s side travel to Cary, North Carolina on May 18th to WakeMed Soccer Park. This second leg of the friendlies will kick off at 7:00 ET airing on ESPN2.

Tickets go on sale for the May 14th game on March 29th and can be bough on-line through the US Soccer website or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets for the May 18th game are on sale now by going to the US Soccer website or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Games are sure to be exciting as the US women are on a 49 game unbeaten streak at home with the record of 44-0-5.

The women’s group schedule for this World Cup kicks off on June 28th against rivals Korea DPR with the game to air on ESPN or on-line at ESPN3.com at 11:45 am ET. Games to follow are July 2nd against Columbia at 11:30 am ET and July 6th at 2:30 pm ET. All games will be shown on ESPN and on-line at ESPN3.com.

(Note: the US Soccer official website has an error on the month of the USA-Sweden game. According to the official FIFA website that game will be held in July and NOT in June as the US website reports.)

If you are a follower of any of the United States Men’s National Team players on Twitter you know that a lot is going on as they ready themselves to play FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Leo Messi and the Argentian team this Saturday at 7:00 pm (EST).

David Yelldell is reporting for his first ever USMNT training camp. Timmy Chandler joins Yelldell in the training camp along with the rest of the men that Bradley has named to the 24 man roster, however there have already been changed made to this roster after Steve Cherundolo, Stuart Holden, and Zak Whitbread have had to withdraw due to injury. Bradley has added defender Eric Lichaj to the mix.

On March 14th US Soccer has reported that 50,000 tickets have been sold for the match that will be played against Argentian in East Rutherford, NJ at the New Meadowlands Stadium. Tickets are available through the US Soccer website or you can call 1-800-745-3000.

If you can’t make it to the game you can still participate in supporting the USMNT through the Red All Over campaign. Fans can tweet US Soccer @ussoccer with their motton with the tagline #redallover to write the new motto that will be put on the men’s sides jersey’s for the game versus Argentina. For more information on how to join the campaign along with the rules for submissions check out the US Soccer website.

The Bolton Wanderers official website has stated today:

Bolton Wanderers midfielder Stuart Holden is expected to be sidelined for six months after sustaining a knee injury in the weekend’s game against Manchester United.

As a result, the 25-year-old will also not feature in the United States’ Gold Cup campaign this June.

Manager Owen Coyle said: “First and foremost our main concern is for Stuart and his recovery. He will get all the time and support that he needs.

“Stuart has been outstanding for me this season and he has shown in his performances that he is one of the best midfielders in the Barclay’s Premier League.

“He has such desire, strength of character and a winning mentality, and he will draw on all those attributes in his rehabilitation.”

In an outreach of sportsmanship Jonny Evans, the man charged with a red card after the tackle to Holden, has called Stuart to issue a sincere apology according to Holden’s Twitter account.

“Just had a sincere phone call from Jonny Evans wishing me the best in my recovery, def wasn’t intentional, just unfortunate part of the game.”

As the results of the injury came to light today Holden was trending worldwide on Twitter, and while for the wrong reasons, was a positive light to the American getting wishes of a speedy recovery from players and fans alike.