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Blah blah blah

You know.. I'm so sick of this crap.

Maybe this is a double standard.. maybe I'm being "jingoistic"..but I'm wondering JUST how much you know about America. How much of America have you seen?

It's easy to say the people of the Ivory Coast love football..it is the passion of young and old..rich and poor. They "play it in the dirt streets" BLAH BLAH BLAH..

I have a question for you Mr. Balkan Tourist..

Did you see me and Matt Watts go to field near my house everyday during the summer and off season.. did you see us sweating and kicking the ball around..improving our game.

I'm sure you didn't. If you're looking for kids playing soccer in the streets of America.. and you're ready to make some big report about your findings..then I'm ready to call you on it. I've seen a good bit of this country.. and in fact.. I've seen people playing small goals games on a basketball court in Boston. I've seen primo fields in the middle of nowhere in eastern Washington state.

Now you know about Lugoff,SC Boston,MA and George,WA ..too bad there are thousands of miles..and millions of people inbetween that you have no clue about.

I don't buy it. Just like I don't buy the crap the US sports writers shovel out.

I don't know what more to say to you.. US soccer is coming..and we're going to do it our own way.

DUDE!!! You go, man. I could almost hear you singing ... "Oh say can you see ....

But honestly, I learned the game playing pick-up games with USCs club players and some of the best "unofficial" coaches ever to set foot in South Carolina. Yank Albers, Tim Hankinson, my brother, Clifford Daley, Phil Savitz, and the list goes on. If you want to play, it's easier than ever to get a game.

DUDE!!! You go, man. I could almost hear you singing ... "Oh say can you see ....

But honestly, I learned the game playing pick-up games with USCs club players and some of the best "unofficial" coaches ever to set foot in South Carolina. Yank Albers, Tim Hankinson, my brother, Clifford Daley, Phil Savitz, and the list goes on. Every day from 4:00 'til the sun went down. When I get the chance, I play with my Tuesday-Thursday lunch crowd. I'm 48 and not considered old among this group. I gotta admit, it's been hot this week. We only had 12 show up.

I would have.. ..but I don't know the words


I'll take this chance to shout-out to Jorge Aribe - for organizing pick-up games on Sundays between the local mexicans (some former club players in Mexico..some waiters or stable hands) and the area HS guys.

If that isn't soccer..if that isn't America.. I don't know what is.

If England get knocked out by Ecuador they will not be questioning the validity of their grass roots selection systems.They will place the blame where it belongs, with Sven.
But my point is that England is a tiny country compared to the US, yet they have 80 full time pro clubs and, 100's of semi pro teams and leagues, then local Saturday and Sunday amateur leagues. When you have all these teams scouting around for players, the talent will get discovered.
In the US this place is so huge and you only have a dozen or so pro teams and some semi pro.
There is not a real network out there looking for the talent. In England there is no Olympic Development because they don't care about it and it is not a route to a pro career.
Here, High School kids want to get into a college and then college kids want to go into the MLS. There are few kids out there who forego the latter high school years and college to have a chance to play. Jonathan Spector did it. But in England if you waited until you were 18 or 22 to get spotted it's probably too late.

The United States is 1-9-2 in World Cup play vs. European teams since 1990 ... USA is 0-1-0 vs. African nations, 1-0-0 vs. North American foes, 0-1-1 vs. Asian countries, and 1-1-0 vs. South American nations ... That's an overall record of 3-12-3 (.250) in the past five World Cups.

2006 Germany (0-2-1)
L, 0-3 Czech Republic
T, 1-1 Italy
L, 1-2 Ghana

2002 Korea/Japan (2-2-1)
W, 3-2 Portugal
T, 1-1 Korea
L, 1-3 Poland
W, 2-0 Mexico - Round of 16
L, 0-1 Germany - Quarterfinal

1998 France (0-3-0)
L, 0-2 Germany
L, 1-2 Iran
L, 0-1 Yugoslavia

1994 United States (1-2-1)
T, 1-1 Switzerland
W, 2-1 Colombia
L, 0-1 Romania
L, 0-1 Brazil - Round of 16

1990 Italy (0-3-0)
L, 1-5 Czechoslovakia
L, 0-1 Italy
L, 1-2 Austria