This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

“But back windows aint much good for looking out. I never did like looking backwards no how. I always did believe in looking out front–looking ahead–which is why I’s worried about Rodney: What do you reckon’s out there in them streets for that boy?”

-Langston Hughes from The Sweet Flypaper of Life, a photo story about a family living at 113 West 134th Street in 1955 New York.

The home of FC Harlem is just a few blocks and more than a half century away… Click HERE for the full story…

SOCCER JOURNALIST ANDREA CANALES TALKS TO TIAS

ABOUT HER LIFE, WORK AND THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE TWO

Some things just make too much sense not to do them. Such was the case with setting up an interview with Andrea Canales, our first lady of soccer journalism and a writer not afraid to address subjects most media won’t. In a world where sports stories are essentially written before they happen – by men I might add - Andrea remains open to where a story takes her, even if those are dangerous waters. Even if those waters have nothing to do with soccer.

She’s written plenty of uncontroversial stuff as well, for just about every soccer publication imaginable. And it’s usually as the only woman on the masthead. I had so many questions for her. Problem is, she’s in Los Angeles; I’m in New York and at the point where I really try to avoid depending on phone interviews for a feature. So for more than a year I’ve wanted to get Andrea on TIAS.

Enter David Keyes. You may know David from his work over at Culture of Soccer, a blog that if you’ve spent any time at you know I love. One day David pushed off from his east coast home to anthropology grad school in southern California. To make a short story even shorter: for most of you reading this (and our work) it should be obvious why both David and I had interest in speaking with Andrea and why I am more than thrilled to have David interview her for his first contribution to TIAS. Their conversation is after the jump. David will be back in the coming weeks to address the second half of the Sideline Views crew, Luis Bueno. Click HERE for the full story…

A SPECIAL ACN EDITION

Like The Daily Show without writers, this is a different kind of barometer. Remember this amazing piece by Austin Merrill, former Associated Press writer in the Ivory Coast? Well, he’s back (in Africa), working on another story, and while soccer is not his focus, there just so happens to be a little tournament going on at the same time. I like to call it the Africa Cup of Nations. Austin was kind enough to take a break from reporting on subjects that really matter and write exclusively for TIAS a little slice of soccer life in Ghana. South Africa buying supporters? Check it out, after the jump. Click HERE for the full story…

EDITOR IN CHIEF OF FUTBOL MUNDIAL IS BREAKING DOWN BORDERS,

WAITING FOR AMERICAN SOCCER TO CATCH UP

Robert Abramowitz - that’s him on the right before the Mexico-Iran game in Cologne, Germany, at the 2006 World Cup - has a drool-inducing resume: Television Commentator/Anchor - ESPN International (Latin America) & ESPN Deportes (US) - May 1994 – Present. Radio Commentator - NFL/Westwood One/Univisión Radio - November 2003-Present. Radio/TV Play-by Play/Analyst - New York Knicks - May 1996 – Present. Television Voiceover/HBO Sports - August 2001 – Present. And of course, Editor in Chief - Fútbol Mundial - May 2002 – Present.

And that’s just the stuff he is presently working on, to say nothing of his past. So, um, Robert might have a thing or two to say about Hispanics and American sports. But first, let’s get to know him. Part 1 of our conversation is after the jump, with future installments coming as soon as I figure out how to transcribe all the Spanish off the recorder. Click HERE for the full story…

DECORATED COACH SITS DOWN WITH FORMER STAR PLAYER SET FOR MLS BREAKOUT

I visited recently with Chicago Fire’s Bakary Soumare and his former coach Martin (Jake) Jacobson, both of NYC soccer dynasty Martin Luther King high school. Jake was the man who first spotted Soumare playing on a New York field soon after his arrival from France (where he grew up after moving from his birthplace of Mali), setting the course for where we now find the young defensive midfielder: fighting to fill the shoes of retired Chris Armas and weighing national team options. Click HERE for the full story…

one of the “top 100 freshman to watch” reflects on his transition from high school to college soccer

written by Steven Amaya

It’s been a crazy year, the transition from high school to college: new, harder classes; a new, more competitive team. Oneonta, where Hartwick College is located, though only a few hours away by train from where I grew up in Queens New York, felt like a different planet. I quickly learned that it is all about controlling fear. The fear of the rising level of play, the increasing responsibility in both soccer and school, the amount of distractions I encountered. Will I fit into the team, the school? Will I get playing time as a freshman? Can I take advantage of opportunity? It’s a lot of pressure, in the shadow of the soccer hall of fame no less. In my jump from high school to college soccer, just as in what seems my entire life, I have found my ability to manage fear to be the determining factor for excellence or failure. Click HERE for the full story…

This week you read what ranks as maybe my favorite conversation I’ve had here at TIAS. It’s one thing to speak to soccer writing’s professional all-stars like Grant Wahl and Steve Goff, but it’s all together something different and special to be able to speak to a man like Greg Hamilton. Certain people, certain work, transcend the medium for which they reside in this terrestrial world. Greg, his film, his work, and his soul all qualify. To conclude our chase, after the jump Greg brings us up to speed on what he has been up to since we spoke last November… Click HERE for the full story…

one man finds the reward from a rare sport is family

Chinlone, who knew? Greg Hamilton’s dedication to his sport is something we can all - RBNY? - learn from. We pick up the conversation after the jump. Click HERE for the full story…

a rare sport on the other side of the world saved his life - now he wants to give back.

“Chinlone and soccer – same family. There’s just something better about manipulating a ball with your feet, whether it’s keeping it in the air or to score goals with it or whatever. And then to do it as a team, there is something really extraordinary about that – extraordinarily difficult and you know, you’re just part of this weird fabulous thing. You know we are so good at using our hands, but a foot sport is just like wow – its odd in a way and it shows something about humans who would do something so odd and be driven to do so out of nothing more than the joy of it.”

A team combination of sport and dance with no opposing team, Chinlone, a sport native to Myanmar, is essentially a non-competitive exercise not too dissimilar to juggling a soccer ball. There is no scoreboard, no winner, no loser, however the sport is as physically demanding as any. Those who come to know it, practice it, seldom master it, yet find they are nearly unable to live without it.

Greg Hamilton is such a man, and Mystic Ball, the documentary film he made with movie partner Matthew London was his first gift back to the sport. In the years since its creation, it has won numerous awards and prizes, and Greg has continued giving back, as the sport continues to bestow gifts on him.

A year ago this November I spoke to Greg about his long journey through life to Chinlone, and struck up one of those friendships that could only exist in our digital world. I had just seen Mystic Ball, and though it had nothing at all to do with soccer, the visual similarities were too striking for me to let it pass. What I found on the other end of an e-mail, after a long long phone conversation, forced my hand. I had to share it. It’s not American soccer, but American soccer could learn something from chinlone.

But the world got in the way. Greg’s global traveling, from film festivals to Myanmar, hindered my deadlines. Our mutual hope that the film would be purchased for theatrical release had me holding the story in hopes of timely publication. But it didn’t happen that way. And then a few thousand monks started marching… and here we are.

Chinlone is a search for community, and it should be no surprise that Greg, after beating back the anger of his childhood through martial arts, would be drawn to something like Chinlone, Myanmar, and the people of Mandalay. And once you read the interview, it should be no surprise why people are drawn to Greg. But it started much more simply than that. There was no spiritual lightning bolt when Hamilton happened upon a man juggling an unusual, woven ball in a park in Toronto. But there was a sense he needed to learn more. He had to know what it was. I had to know why? After the jump begins our 3-part conversation, with parts 2 and 3 following in the coming days.
Click HERE for the full story…

U.S. Tops Switzerland 1-0 in Europe to End Losing Streak

He delivered what I thought was the best game preview written in the last few days. And now Michael J. Agovino is back, reporting from the US MNT’s 1-0 win over Switzerland in Basel. But this might have to be it for Michael. Or people are going to start to expect this kind of sharp, concise writing all the time at TIAS. And that doesn’t bode well for me.
Click HERE for the full story…