Racism in Italian Football

 Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli is an Italian footballer of Ghanaian descent that has suffered many abuses from Italian fans because of his race. 

This week the Italian football club Nuovo Casteltodino abandoned a match after two of their Italian players of African descent received repeated abuses.

Every weekend I watch football.  I watch football from England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.  I watch a lot of football, yet watching a match on television does not compare to being in the stadium.  The atmosphere inside a football stadium is hard to duplicate and many sports pale in comparison.  Seeing a football match live is truly something everyone should witness even if you are not a fan of the sport.  It is an environment that should be experienced and not just viewed from afar, yet there are aspects that need to be removed.

During my times in Europe I’ve attended a handful of matches, and I enjoyed them all, but I do remember a few occasions where there were chants that I did not appreciate or sections of the stadium that I was advised not to purchase tickets in, and all of this was solely due to the color of my skin.

In modern day society, and past societies, racism and/or prejudices towards other groups are nearly inevitable.  People may be unfamiliar with a group of people and their initial judgments towards the character of those individuals could be based on appearance and/or habits.  At some point people must find a way of dealing with these differences.  Some may respond negatively, some positively, and others completely indifferent, but the main theme should be that although the end result may be similar the process of getting their was most likely completely different.

In Italy people may be inclined to racist actions not because of an overwhelming belief that people of African descent are beneath them, but instead because their country is in a very vulnerable geographic location that makes them ripe for invasion and therefore the people are wary of individuals that one could deem as foreign.  Italian racism could arise from opinions that originate from the slave trade during the Roman Empire.  The method for addressing this problem could reside in their Roman Catholic faith, as the audio clip alluded to.  This perspective does not make their racism any less significant to that which exists in the United States, which originated solely from the slave trade, but it may gave a better method for which we can address and hopefully solve the problem.

Racism may be an international problem, but addressing it domestically may be the ideal method for solving this issue.

For more info on this topic go to the BBC.

The Hand of Henry

Thierry Henry not illegally caressing the ball

It has been almost a week since Thierry Henry's handball propelled France to the World Cup over Ireland, and for some reason I thought the issue would disappear.  I thought people would get over it.  It is only football, but I appear to be mistaken.  The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has requested a replay of that infamous match.  The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) and the French Football Federation (FFF) have both dismissed this request, so France is going to the World Cup.  The closest thing to a replay the Irish have gotten has been from French leftback Patrice Evra agreeing to a replay between himself and his Manchester United teammate John O'Shea on his PlayStation 3.  These are the facts, and it does not appear as though the result will change, yet that has far from stifled the debate.  

The debate focuses on what should be done about cheating.  How can we allow cheating?  What can we do when cheating is caught?  How can we prevent cheating?  I love this debate, not because I think these are great questions, but instead because they show the beauty of football.  The more you get familiar with football, the more you will hear it referred to as "the beautiful game" or hear phrases such as "Football is Life" and "Life is Football".  You rarely hear other sports being labelled as such, and for the most part you could call them entertaining, but not beautiful and not life.  Yet for many football is life, and this is not due to them waking up every morning and only thinking and playing football so that it consumes their entire being.  Instead "Football is Life" because when compared to most sports it is the only one that truly allows the player to express himself the best.  The size of the pitch, and the number of players on the field allows each player the space to express himself.  The minimal coaching intervention gives players the opportunity to find their own way through problems.  Coaches cannot call timeouts.  Coaches only have a certain number of substitutions, and they will not use them frivolously.  Additionally, the game only has one referee to keep control of 22 players.  Yes the linesmen play important roles, but their job is to see the few things that the referee cannot.  They are auxiliary eyes.  They are to see, and to rarely be heard.  The referee must be heard at all times, but one managing 22 does allow for an additional amount of freedom for the players that now incorporates testing the rules.  When players are given the freedom to express themselves and push the rules beauty can occur, and that very much resembles life.  Yet, with beauty comes danger and football must also deal with that.

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Dock Ellis LSD No-hitter

Dock Ellis was a Major League pitcher for 11 years, and played for 5 different teams.  However, he is mostly known for always pitching while intoxicated, and most famously pitching a no-hitter while on LSD in 1970.  

Below is a new animated video about that famous no-hitter with Dock Ellis providing the commentary.  Enjoy.

The World's Most Popular Americans

A friend of mine at work today stated that he felt the most known Americans throughout the world were four individuals:  Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and Tiger Woods.  I made two additions in John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama.  Of these six only John F. Kennedy sparked debate over his inclusion, and that was due to the amount of time that has passed since his death.  No one argued this list, and most struggled to think of people more popular.  Maybe Tom Cruise, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and someone else who does not come to mind at this time should be added to the list, but at the time they were not even thought of.  Therefore I feel this six are a very good list, and that is the most interesting aspect.

Of the six members, five of them are African-American and the one non-African American on this list is known the world over for fighting for the civil rights of African-Americans.  Additionally, all the members performed their respective tasks with style.  Michael Jordan became the face of basketball, and made it cool for people to shave their heads.  No one can argue the style and brilliance with which Michael Jackson ruled the pop music world or Muhammad Ali dominated the boxing ring.  Tiger Woods has redefined golf not only with his remarkable game, but also with the personalized Nike clothes and equipment he dons at each tournament.  John F. Kennedy heralded a new era of Presidential elegance that presidents the world over aim to duplicate.  President Barack Obama thus far has been his closest successor.  

This list, albeit a short one that originated from a conversation at work instead of extensive polling data, intrigued me because coincidentally it focused on style, supporting the underdog, and to a degree social justice.  People want fairness and they want said fairness to be implemented with an individualistic style.  Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali are not the best at their respective sports because they have won the most titles.  (They have not won the most titles)  They are the best because they were what their sports needed at the time, and they served their jobs with style.  Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods used their individual brilliance to redefine their sports.  Presidents Kennedy and Obama have both given the United States a new youthful, intelligent face to the world.  All of this includes style, but we should not forget that all of these people represented the ones without the strongest voices.

America's history with slavery is still something we are working to overcome, and although we may prefer to ignore the issue, it is fascinating how the ones who inspired this minority are the ones we remember the most.  A culture that has suffered the blight of slavery will frequently look for positive role models, due to the constant negative examples set by the institution and those who support it.  These six may all have been stylish and exemplary at their respective fields, but above all else they served as positive role models for those who needed them the most.  Coincidentally, people seem to feel that they may be the most popular Americans of today.

We should not be afraid to help or be the good example to those who need it the most.  You will be remembered for it.

Please feel free to comment on any additional Americans you feel should be added to the list.

More Than A Game - Trailer

The reason that I am posting this trailer is because LeBron James is in it.  The film More Than A Game follows his path to winning the high school national championships.  

The reason that you should watch the trailer is because the focus of the film is not LeBron James, but all the members of that national championship team.  Watching a film about arguably the best basketball player of this era is good, but watching a film about a team coming together to fulfill their dreams is much better.

Enjoy the trailer.

Kiss Muhammad Ali, He's Irish

Muhammad Ali this week has made a visit to his ancestral homeland... the Irish town of Ennis.  This is not a joke.  In all seriousness his great-grandfather Abe Grady emigrated to America from Ennis in the 1860's.  Thus when the boxing legended returned to Ennis to pay his respects, he received a hero's welcome.  Muhammad Ali was named an honorary freeman of Ennis, and posters of the champ in his prime decorated the streets.  This is pretty cool, even though it may be hard to believe at first glance.  

To read more and watch some videos of the Champ and his Irish brethren go HERE.

I repeat "Kiss the Champ because he is Irish; not because he is 'oh so pretty' as he famously stated."

Man, She's a Good Runner

Caster Semenya

Caster Semenya of South Africa has been asked to undergo gender testing to find out if she is indeed a woman after her dominating performances this past week at the Track and Field World Championships in Berlin.  She dominated the 800m with a time of 1:55.45.  She beat all other competitors by nearly 3 seconds.  Testing needs to be done and the gym alone should not produce a physique like that.

Well the results are in and Caster is "a woman?".  Thus far she remains a woman, but she has testosterone levels three times higher than those of a normal woman.  This where it gets serious, yet funny.  If people believed that she was a woman than everyone would assume steroids, but since that basic assumption has been thrown out further gender testing needs to be done.

One day we will find out Caster Semenya's gender or if she is a cheat and then all will be well in Women's Track and Field.

Arsenal 6 - Everton 1

Wow.  There is not much more to say about an opening day as emphatic as this one, yet I am only thinking of one thing.  I am not thinking about titles, or how the Premier League is ours for the taking.  That would be crazy and getting far too ahead of yourself.  I am thinking about how this Arsenal team will only get better.  By better I am not anticipating five goal margin victories every weekend, but I do think this team will get better.  We had key players such as:  Tomas Rosicky, Johan Djourou, Theo Walcott, and Abou Diaby all out of the team today.  All were injured apart from Theo Walcott, who was rested.  Arsene Wenger even decided to leave Jack Wilshere out of the squad entirely.  Five very important players to our squad were not even available.  On opening day this may not be as drastic, but as the season progresses you need to have the full array of players to add depth and competition amongst the ranks.  We should continue to improve with just the players we have, but I feel we will sign some more.

As it stands, we are top of the Premier League and are not in an urgent need to sign anyone, and that is a great position to be in.  If the team continues to play at a similar level for the remaining two weeks of the month I would not be surprised if we brought in a couple new players.  Our trophy drought over the last couple of years has hurt recruiting, but attractive football will always attract quality players.  Attractive football was on display today, and I have no reason to believe that it will not continue.

As for quality players, I am in the same boat as the rest of the world and have no knowledge of who we are looking to sign.  Personally, I would still like to see Patrick Vieira come back.  Additionally, based on Alex Song's performance today, I do not feel we need to bring in another defensive midfielder in addition to a Vieira signing as I stated in a previous post The Attitude of Arsenal.  Our 4-3-3 formation suits him much better than the 4-4-2.  He can play much more centrally in a 4-3-3 than a 4-4-2, so it is much harder for him to get exposed because a lack of pace like he was last season.  Patrick Vieira would not be expected to play every match, due to his age and injuries, but he would be a great leader and motivator for the team in a more reserved role.  Secondly, a friend of mine and a die hard Arsenal fan mentioned that he thinks we will bring Alex Hleb back to the club.  This would be great.  His career has gone down the drain, since he left us and that is a great message to give all the players.  Be thankful for what you have here at Arsenal, and fight for it.  Additionally, he is a quality player that would provide depth at every position.  Those are two players that I would like to return, but who knows what will happen on those fronts.  Arsene is not too keen to re-sign players he has already sold.  However, in these two scenarios he would still be turning a profit since he signed both players for next to nothing, sold them for a lot, and then would re-sign them for next to nothing.  We all know how much Arsene cares about doing proper business.

As for new players coming in the only one that I have heard about, that actually attracts me, is Neven Subotic.  He is a giant defender, is only 20 years old, and starts for Borussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga.  I have watched a couple of games and he is faster than you would think, has good ball control, and can even take free kicks.  Please sign him.  He has the height, skill and youth we like and need, but most importantly he will give us the depth we need in central defense.  As for Marouane Chamack, he is a quality player.  If we sign him I will be excited.  It will be added quality and depth, but I do not think we need to desperately fill the holes in our offense after we just scored six goals on our opening day.

Yeah I know I did not talk much about what actually occurred in the game today, but what really is there to talk about.  We won 6-1.  We were up 3-0 at half time.  Denilson scored the first after good work from Bendtner to beat his defender, and make a good pass the Cesc who then laid it in to Denilson's patch for a one-time curling effort into the top left corner.  Thomas Vermaelen then scored a header from a free kick in his first game.  William Gallas soon followed suit with his own header goal from a free kick four minutes later.  After half time, Cesc scored two well taken goals, and later Eduardo finished of a rebound from an Arshavin toe poke shot to make it 6-0.  Louis Saha scored one of the most insignificant goals in Everton's history in stoppage time and that was it.  Every Arsenal player played great today.  That is all you need to know about today.  What I got from the match though is that I think we will get better, and that could be frightening.

Go Gunners.  

Mexico 2 - United States 1

 

The United States just finished playing Mexico in a World Cup qualifier in Mexico's Azteca Stadium, and we lost.  We always lose to Mexico at home so this result was not a surprise.  Frankly, how we lost was not a surprise.  The frustrating part of this match was that we still seem incapable to fix a couple of minor problems.

In previous posts, I discussed how our men's national team lacked a style of play and how they had poor player selections.  For the most part, over the past couple of months we appear to have found our style and essentially a set starting lineup.  This is good, but not enough.  For the most part our players played well today, yet we lost and I do not feel we lost to a better team.  There is a problem with this and this problem resides in the center of midfield, and can be easily fixed.  

Overall, our defenders played well.  Tim Howard was excellent in goal.  Onyewu showed more authority and composure today than he ever has.  Steve Cherundolo looked good, but Jonathan Spector would have been just as good.  Jay DeMerit looked strong, and Bocanegra looked solid.  In midfield, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan looked fairly dangerous, but this was not they best match.  Up front, Brian Ching was invisible and Jozy Altidore should have started instead.  Charlie Davies looked active, and had a good goal, but I am not yet sold on him.  His first touch is not good enough and his runs off the ball need to be better.  Also I am not sure if he prefers to drop deep and receive the ball or get fed balls over the top.  He needs to decide how he wants to play.  Otherwise he will just be okay.  However, the partnership between Ricardo Clark and Michael Bradley is the most frustrating part of this team, and therefore is the aspect we need to work on first.

As a duo I am not sure if they know what they are supposed to do, and the problem appears to be caused because they are too good.  They are both well rounded midfielders who can attack and defend, so they try to do both.  Ricardo Clark is obviously the more defensive of the two, but I often see him farther up the field than Michael Bradley.  Likewise I see the inverse with Michael Bradley.  The coaching staff needs to inform these two where they need to be on the field.  Otherwise, more teams will get wide open shots from the top of the box, or inside the box just like Mexico did today.  On the first goal today, Bradley and Clark were level and a Mexican player was left wide open to shoot.  When one player is supposed to be more advanced he needs to be advanced.  This is not a frustration based on a lack of talent, but instead on based on tactics and positioning.  These two will be the center of our midfield for years to come and it would be nice if they appeared able to play well together.  On the second goal, Coach Bob Bradley had already decided to sub Ricardo Clark for Benny Feilhaber to provide more offense, and push Michael Bradley to defensive midfield and this just did not make any sense.  The game was tied, and we needed to prevent them from scoring in addition to trying to score.  In this scenario, preventing a goal is priority number one and to do that you should not substitute your defensive midfielder.  We all know Michael Bradley can defend, but Ricardo Clark is better.  We should let defenders defend, and not over stretch talented midfielders.  If Coach Bradley did not think our midfielders could create a goal, then he should have substituted one of the offensive midfielders who were not getting the job done.  After this substitution a Mexican player was left wide open in the penalty box to score the game winning goal.

Therefore to sum up this match, I must say that we are getting better, but if we do not learn how to organize our central midfield we will not win the tough games.  Ricardo Clark needs to be more defensive, and Michael Bradley should be more offensive and no one should care about their versatility.  That is what I learned from this match.

The Attitude of Arsenal

Patrick Vieira lifting the FA Cup in 2005, Arsenal's last trophy

Earlier today I watched my Gunners defeat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in their first game of the Emirates Cup, and I thought the team looked good.  The defense looked strong for the most part.  Jack Wilshere, Arsenal's 17 year old prodigy looked impressive.  Cesc looked sharp.  Andrey Arshavin scored both goals in the dying minutes, and showed how he can make something out of nothing.  All of this is good, but it is not good enough.  This team looked competitive.  They looked like they could challenge for honors this season.  Many of the players appeared to indicate that they were ready to rise to the occasion this season.  This is good, but not enough because we need a team that can dominate and overwhelm the opposition from the first second.  This team did not show that, so we need to improve.  Due to the sales of Kolo Toure, and Emmanuel Adebayor we now have money and we need to buy.  

We need to buy two players, and they are both center midfielders.  We cannot just buy one.  We must buy two.  According to most of the rumors being bandied around we are very interested in Blaise Matudi of St. Etienne.  He is a young, French defensive midfielder with a high work rate who is strong in the tackle and knows how to pass.  He could be the perfect compliment to Cesc in the center.  We have money now, so if we want him we should buy him.  The only problem is that it would be silly for a team that intends to win the EPL, FA Cup and/or Champions League to rest the stability of their midfield on an untried youngster regardless of his talent.  Thus this is where the problem arises, but luckily the solution is staring us in the face and praying to god that we see him.  The solution is Patrick Vieira.

As a team, we need a defensive midfielder, and Patrick Vieira plays that position, so it would make sense that we may be interested in him.  However, he is getting old and has found it hard to stay off the injury list.  His recent injury record would indicate that he would not be the best fit for our need for a central midfielder.  This is correct.  We would not purchase him with the hopes that he plays every game.  We should purchase Patrick in addition to Blaise because Patrick would change the entire attitude of the squad.  He could imbue the squad with the spirit of "The Invincibles".  As a team I hear this squad being described as one that can challenge and compete, yet we all need them to dominate.  That is what Arsenal supporters expect, and I am not sure if this current squad knows how to do that.

I know this notion of one player making the difference between champions and challengers without the expectation of him playing week in and week out being far fetched, but I would beg to differ.  You only need to look as far as Barcelona to get your answer.  Their current coach Pep Guardiola was a legend at Barcelona as a player, and he has been a revelation since becoming coach.  Barcelona went from runners-up to the best team in the world.  Pep made a couple of important personnel changes and then instituted that tactics that he learned under Johan Cruyff.  This is fairly simple, yet I feel Arsenal now needs less work than this.  Arsenal does not need a new coach.  They just need a couple new players.

Patrick Vieira will be the return of the legend.  The squad will train with a living legend that will show them how to become an Invincible.  He will not play every game, and he should not expect to.  He has not done that for the past two seasons.  Instead he will play based on merit, and then be given breaks due to the heavy fixture congestion.  Most importantly he will nurture and challenge players like Blaise Matudi, and Abou Diaby.  They will have to out perform arguably the greatest defensive midfielder for the past 10 years to earn a starting spot, and that should be rising to the greatest challenge of their careers.  Additionally, they will also know that Patrick and Arsene Wenger would want them to improve and challenge the Arsenal legend.  The players would grow leaps and bounds.  

Secondly, the support Patrick Vieira would provide for the offensive players would be immense.  We have a small team, and over the course of an entire season the injuries will pile up as they have over the last couple of seasons.  Having a proper defensive midfielder, who additionally is teaching the others how to defend, would be an amazing bonus.  I know Cesc developed tremendously during his time playing alongside Patrick, and I feel it only appropriate for Jack Wilshere to also have that opportunity.  The idea that opposing defenders may feel they can kick and tackle this great talent without the fear of retribution makes me furious.  Patrick will protect many of our more skilled players.

This Arsenal team has two problems.  One is the lack of a defensive midfielder, and the other is their attitude.  Blaise Matudi could be the solution to our midfield problem.  If our scouts believe he is good enough then I believe that he is good enough.  Patrick Vieira will fix our attitude problem.  He will aid us in our transition from competitive team to Invincible team.  This current squad does not have one remaining member of "The Invincibles", so we need to bring one back to show all the youngsters how it is done.

These are the two signings we need.  I could care less about another striker or defender.  Arsenal has never had a problem scoring goals.  We will score goals.  If we get many injuries in the defense then we would put Patrick Vieira back their just like we did Gilberto.  Our midfield needs to get fixed, and so does our mentality.  These two should do both.

Sailing Around the World

Zac Sunderland, a 17 year old American, today became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe alone.  He completed his journey in only 13 months.  I think this is great, and I would love it if more people attempted adventures much like these.  I rarely envy 17 year olds, but a large part of me thinks it would have been great to have been Zac for those 13 months.

Here is the video of him after he landed at Marina del Ray, Californina

Oguchi Onyewu signs for AC Milan

 

Follow the link HERE.

I could hardly believe this when I heard about it, but I could not be happier about it.  Having a young American defender sign for AC Milan should be pleasing for all supporters of American soccer.  They player had a good Confederations Cup, and it can be amazing what a good week to two weeks of soccer can get you.  I still remember watching him play for Clemson against Furman.  (I went to Furman University.)  He played outside rightback for the Tigers.  Now he plays for AC Milan.  This is good.  We should all be happy for Gooch.

Additionally, the fact that he is going to learn how to defend from Italians is great.  They are a country that knows how to make great defenders.  Lets hope Gooch learns a lot from Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini.  They are two of the greats. 

Blades of Grass

I have wanted to write a piece about Roger Federer for quite some time, yet have been unable to find the time to do so.  Pre-French Open seemed like a good time, but alas nothing came to mind.  After his victory at the French Open, which made him one of only a handful of Tennis players to win all four majors, it seemed like a great time, but I decided to wait.  I had to let the history settle and marinate.  Now here I sit with Wimbledon nearly finished, and a part of me feels the story of the day is as much Andy Roddick as it is Roger Federer.

Roger Federer is on the cusp of winning the most Grand Slams in the history of tennis by surpassing Pete Sampras' record of 14.  This could be a phenomenal accomplishment and most assuredly would leave Roger Federer as the greatest player to ever play the game, yet my attention is on Andy Roddick.  Andy Roddick surprised many by upsetting the British favorite and world #3 Andy Murray in the semi-finals to pit himself against history in the making.  This is a battle to salivate over.  We have Roger Federer against a brash American who has worked diligently to fine tune his game.  I like this.

I like that Andy Roddick's strong serving style will go up against Roger Federer's all around game.  I like that Andy has had to develop more of an all around game to stay near the top.  He showed this skills in his nearly flawless display against Murray.  I like how Andy Roddick had to develop an all around game because Roger Federer was so dominant that everyone needed one to stay competitive.  Roger's dominance of the men's game was so absolute that despite his brilliance I could not stand to watch him play.  The game became boring.  I wanted people to beat him or at least make him work for it, yet for quite a while they could not.  However, times have changed.  Roger Federer is ranked #2 in the world behind Rafael Nadal, but if he wins the final on Sunday he will reclaim the #1 ranking.  He lost the top ranking because everyone got better, and they got better because of Roger Federer.  Roger pushed them to get better and eventually they pushed back.  This is great for men's tennis.

Andy Roddick grabs my attention now because he is a push back.  Nadal was the first consistent threat, and now amongst the field I hope there will always be at least a couple players that push Roger Federer to his limits.  Andy Roddick will get his chance on Sunday.  I hope he pushes Roger to his limits because I know Roger will push him to his.  I hope Andy uses the strong serving power and brute force that is often associated with American tennis to challenger Roger.  I need to see a player on the court who is more inspired by Pete Sampras than by stopping Roger Federer.  Andy Roddick can provide this spark and I want to see it on Centre Court.  I may love tennis, but I must love American tennis more.  If not what would patriotism be for.  Roger Federer may become or may already be the greatest tennis player of all time, but Andy Roddick is the topic of the day.

The Americans

Sweet Victory: US 2 - Spain 0

Yesterday, the US mens national soccer team defeated Spain, currently ranked #1 in the world and the defending European Champions, 2 - 0 to reach the finals of the Confederations Cup.  This will mark the Americans first trip to the finals of the Confederations Cup, and I have no idea what to expect from the match.  I have been very critical of this team, yet yesterday's game was nearly perfect.  The Americans appear to have found their system.  Lets just hope they stick with it.

Against Spain they played a traditional 4-4-2 formation and I found nothing wrong with the player selections.  Jonathan Spector has showed that he should be our starting right back.  Onyewu is a constant in the center of defense, and Jay DeMerit has played well so he should keep his spot in the starting lineup.  Placing Bocanegra on the left side of defense was smart because the captain should play if he is healthy.  Additionally, this is the position he plays for his club team, Rennes, so it was a very easy transition.  The defense was good but the midfield was great.  Ricardo Clark and Michael Bradley have established themselves as our new central midfield duo, and that is perfect.  Next, Coach Bob Bradley opted to play Clint Dempsey on the right and Landon Donovan on the left of midfield.  However, they were both given the freedom to roam around and switch sides.  He let the creative players be creative.  I liked this a lot.  Up top we had the impressive Charlie Davis acting as the quick striker making runs and stretching the defense, and Jozy Altidore acting as the strong target striker.  Both of them played well, and Jozy used his strength to get the first goal.  Overall, I liked this lineup, but the best aspect of the players on the field was actually a player who started on the bench.

The omission of Benny Feilhaber from the starting lineup was the most important decision of the day.  Benny may be great and creative, but sometimes his presence can unbalance the team.  If he started today Landon Donovan most likely would have played striker, and Charlie Davis would have been on the bench.  This little change unbalances the team because Landon likes to drop deep into midfield to get the ball, and this crowds the midfield.  Additionally, Landon has not shown consistently enough that he can be that creative force to win games against top opposition to warrant that responsibility.  Therefore, Charlie Davis, a more true striker, starts and makes runs to stretch the defense.  This little change, to me at least, showed that the mens national team may have found the style in which they would like to play the beautiful game.  It appears as though they would like to have a strong defense that is comfortable with not attacking, two tough tackling center midfielders, two creative outside midfielders, and two strikers to stretch the defense with one being big and one small.  This is not rocket science, but I think it made a drastic difference against Spain.

When Benny came on late in the game he provided a spark, and even created the second goal, but this should not be enough to be a starter.  He will need to prove that he is more valuable than Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey, and that will be incredibly hard.  Landon is our leading goal scorer and Clint has proven time and time again that he can score the big goals.  His other opportunity would arise from injury or suspension.  Luckily for him Michael Bradley got a red card, that he did not deserve, at the end of the game, so Benny should start the final.  He will start in the final because he should fit into our new system, and this is a good start.  

Based on our Spain and Egypt matches it looks like we have found our style, and also have good players sitting on the bench.  All the good teams have top players sitting on the bench waiting for that chance to play.  Benny is ours right now and I hope we have more to come.  Overall, I am very pleased with the game, and am looking forward to the final on Sunday.  The team showed more than heart against Spain, they showed that they know how to play the game.

Additionally, I must mention that Tim Howard was phenomenal.  I had not mentioned him in the post.  Also, I went to college with both Ricardo Clark and Clint Dempsey, and even played club soccer against Ricardo, so it is really cool seeing them beat the best in the world.  Go USA.

L'Americano

Rossi scores for Italy

I have a belief that everything sounds better in Italian. I've been to Italy and despite not being able to speak Italian the few words I could say in Italian were a pleasure. For example, the previous Pope's name in English is John Paul II, with II being pronounced as "the second". How boring. In Italian it is Giovanni Paulo II, with II being pronounced as "due". See that name sounds so much better in Italian, just say it. Maserati has a car called the Quattroporte, and in English that translates for "four-door". One sounds way better than the other. Italian wins. Things just sound better in Italian. This is a fact.

I bring this up because the American men's national soccer team lost to Italy 3-1 on Monday, and they lost for the most part because of one player, an American.  Giuseppe Rossi plays for the Italian national team despite being born in New Jersey, and he scored two of Italy's three goals.  If you are an American who has followed Rossi's progress from that of a 13 year old New Jersey kid who left for Italy to play in Parma's youth academy to full Italian international, a part of you must feel that he is a player we let slip away.  However, I would argue that he was a player we never had.  American soccer never had what he wanted.

He wanted soccer, or football, that exuded character.  He wanted football that knew how it wanted to play the game.  He wanted a country that knew the benefit of a cultured left-foot instead of one that decried the ineptitude of left-foot dependence.  When Giuseppe Rossi teed up his left footed canon of a shot, that would tie the game and swing the momentum back in Italy's favor, I doubt he was thinking about the probability of his shot going in, or that he needs a better right-foot, or even that he should take a couple more touches to get closer to goal before shooting.  I bet all he was thinking about was that he was going to hit the ball as hard as he could, aim for the near post, and show the American's why he now plays for Italy.  He did exactly that before he was even on the field for five minutes.  After that strike we were done, and everyone knew it.  Sure our boys would fight hard and compete, but they were no match for the men of Italy.  We knew that with one more shot from outside the box Italy would now have the lead, and that is exactly what happened.  Daniele de Rossi took another speculative shot from outside the box, and put a fork in us.

Rossi picked the better country to play for, not because they have won more titles, but because why that have one more.  As a country they have figured out how they want to win, and they do this with near perfection.  They have a solid back four, a strong ball winning midfield, and attackers who are given almost total creative license.  Additionally, they usually pair a big striker along with a small one such as:  Christian Vieri and Pippo Inzaghi back in the day, or Alberto Gilardino/Luca Toni and Vincenzo Iaquinta/Giuseppe Rossi today.  Who would not want to play for a system where they say, "Defenders - we want you to defend.  Central Midfielders -we want you to win the ball and distribute.  Attackers - we want you to be creative and attack."?  I know I would love to play on a team that says and does that.  Strangely despite the simplicity of this concept it appears that only Italy out of the two of us does that.

The United States' defenders do defend, but they do not defend well enough for all the attacking they try to do.  They need to defend first and foremost.  They need to be tougher defensively before they care about anything else.  America's midfield on the other hand is a total mess.  It is different every game and too often they try to field the best players instead of the best team.  Against Italy I actually liked our midfield selection, but could not understand how they played.  It made no sense to me.  For example Italy fielded Gennaro Gattuso, a combative ball winning midfielder, Daniele de Rossi, a tough box to bot midfielder, Andrea Pirlo, a midfield orchestrator, and Mauro Camoranesi.  The instructions were simple to these players.  Gattuso, win the ball.  De Rossi, win the ball and start some offense.  Pirlo, dictate the pace of play.  Camoranesi, do what you want and be creative.  The US on the other hand had a very similar midfield line-up, but told them completely different things to do.  Our ball winner Ricardo Clark tried to get more involved in the attack.  Michael Bradley, our box to box midfielder, tried to help organize the offense too much.  However the worse part of all was how Benny Feilhaber was stationed on the right of midfield, and Clint Dempsey was stationed on the left side.  This is just dumb.  I went to college with Clint and watched him play for three years before he went pro and everything I have ever seen from this player is that he gives 100% and tries to do whatever he wants on the field.  The US should let him do that.  Tell him to try to find a weakness in the opposition's defense and exploit it.  That is what Italy does.  Despite the lunacy of Clint on the left, the insanity of Benny on the right is far worse.  Benny came on off the bench against Honduras, played in the center, and won the game for us.  Therefore against Italy we play him out of position.  I am laughing while I am crying when I see this.  Italy had three central midfielders.  Why can't the United States?  The answer to this question is that we have not decided how we want to play the game yet.  Once we do that we will stop forcing square pegs into round holes.  The only way for a square peg to fit is if it is smaller than the hole.  We do not need to reduce the talent of our players, so that they fit into a defunct, undefined system.

Thus the best American on the field in the US vs Italy was an Italian.  He showed the character that his new country's philosophy allowed him to play.  Ours on the other hand, allowed for Landon Donovan to once again get outshone on the largest stage.  Most notably by an Italian substitute.  It allowed for Jozy Altidore to pass when he should shoot.  The American team had the fight of a winner, but totally lacked the structure or organization to win.  I can see why Giuseppe Rossi would prefer that name instead of Joseph Red.  Everything sounds better in Italian, and soccer looks better in Italian too.

P.S. - I thought Ricardo Clark had a great game.  His red-card was suspect at best, but at least he seemed to know what he was supposed to do.  He won the ball, broke up the Italian offense and even kicked a couple of their players.  All of this is good.  I hope he does not lose his starting spot because of a bad decision by a bad referee.