US Soccer fans know all about ESPN's devious plans to destroy soccer in this country. Between the increasingly-annoying 30 at 30 updates during the middle of an exciting play and the atrociously bad commentating from the three stooges (I'm looking at you Julie Foudy), ESPN has gone above and beyond to ensure that soccer plays second fiddle to the likes of the AFL and College Softball.
But ESPN stooped to a new low over the weekend. In their ultimate highlight segment of Sportcenter (Where they show the best plays and action from the past weekend), they choose to highlight the finals of, get this, the National f'ning Spelling Bee and had NONE, count them, ZERO highlights of the 4-1 US vs. China game. Unbelievable.
If anyone needs me, I'll be writing several unpleasant letters to the offices in Bristol.
That's right, the United States is set for a nice little stroll through Europe in August, facing Catalonia at Camp Nou on October 14th and Switzerland on the 17th. For the time time in a long, long time, I am in complete agreement with the US Soccer Federation and further more, I'm as giddy as a child on Christmas. Why you ask?
Well this trip signals an opportunity (A long overdue one at that) for the United States to play quality European competition, in get this, Europe! (A novel concept) Switzerland is a mid-level European team but they've struggled a bit in their Euro 2008 campaign so look for them to field an A-level squad as they hope to build momentum for the Euro championship.
Catalonia presents an even more intriguing match-up. Not a country, but rather a region in Spain, the Catalans use these rare opportunities as a way to display Catalan nationalism so look for Camp Nou (In my opinion one of the best stadiums in Europe) to be packed to the brim with Catalans showing fervent support. In terms of hostility and a passionate fan base, it doesn't get much better than this. On top of that, Catalonia has the ability to call up players like Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, etc.
Overall, a solid move by Gulati and company, one that should be applauded by the Nats fans calling for Euro action months ago.
The excruciatingly long wait is over folks. After a ten-month search process to find a new coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team, reports are coming in that interim coach Bob Bradley will be officially announced as the man for the job on Wednesday. Because of the duration of the search, speculation had been that U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati was waiting for the European season to finish to interview possible candidates for the job.
Indeed, the timing of this decision seems a bit curious, almost as if Gulati realized in the 11th hour that he wouldn’t be able to get on of his top choices. Now Bob Bradley has certainly not done anything to question the decision. He posted a solid 3-0-1 record during his time as interim coach, highlighted by victories against Mexico and Ecuador.
With the Gold Cup and Copa America rapidly approaching, a new coach needed to be announced quickly but one has to wonder whether Bradley will be the coach for the long term and whether or not someone else will have his position by the 2010 World Cup. My theory behind this is that Gulati simply couldn’t find a candidate worth his time and decided to go with the safe choice. If Bradley and the National team do poorly in the summer competitions, then Gulati has the easy decision of firing Bradley and moving on to another candidate. I still believe Gulati is holding out for the possibility of bringing in a coach with European experience (Perhaps Klinnsman in a year or two?).
Now I have no qualms about Bradley as the head coach. He’s seemed to develop a good rapport with his players and knows the intricacies of U.S. Soccer, having been an MLS coach for several years. However, I don’t feel he can bring the national team to the next level of prominence, as he’s not a strong enough tactician to go head-to-heat with the elite European coaches.
Regardless of who the coach is the U.S. Soccer Federation on the whole needs to do a significantly better job scouting and developing future players. Incidents like Giuseppe Rossi can’t happen. Young Hispanic players need to be tapped as well and better youth academy infrastructures need to be established. As for Bradley, I think he’ll do a serviceable job in the short-term and will guide the U.S. on a strong path over the course of the year. However, I can see a situation where Bradley “voluntarily” vacates the position to allow an elite European coach to come in and take the reins for the 2010 World Cup.
