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

Steve Nash and friends throwdown for the showdown in chinatown, take 2

It’s never as good as the first time. The rain, the grand stand bleachers, the wet turf, the steady cam man on the field, the crane cam hovering over the crowd. What was an underground experiment last year became the mainstream mainstay as Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna hosted their 2nd annual Showdown in Chinatown to benefit each of their namesake charities. The line-ups, tweaked a bit from last year, will star in a Fox Soccer Channel documentary about the game.

That’s not to say it won’t be the best sporting event all summer in New York City. Standing over Thierry Henry’s shoulder while he watched the first half from the bench is not something one takes lightly. It was a mid-eighties Michael Jackson moment for some, which is why this event will forever be, no matter how many times they play it, a once in a lifetime experience. Click HERE for the full story…

When Sports Illustrated Senior Editor Mark Mravic, 46, interviewed for a job at the magazine in 1996, they asked him what he was interested in. He said “soccer,” to which the reply came: “Well, we really don’t do a lot of soccer.” More than a decade later he’s finally the soccer editor. Now will the coverage improve?

SI’s 2002 World Cup preview, in which Clint Mathis graced the cover and was heralded as the new face of American soccer, was the “least-read and third lowest-rated cover story measured since 1995.” Four years later, the 2006 World Cup preview “tied for 199th in readership out of 208 cover stories measured to date.” There has never been a feature profile of America’s present face, Landon Donovan, and the recent David Beckham cover story—“a big get” for the magazine—performed less than stellar with readers.

What’s a soccer-loving editor at the classic American sports magazine to do? TIAS sat down with Mravic in his SI office to discuss the past, present, and future of soccer in America Sports Illustrated. Click HERE for the full story…

foreign failure (and a blind date) nets New York a soccer film festival in july

In a soccer game, as in a movie, a narrative unfolds for the viewer. There are action scenes and sad scenes, comedy and drama. But unlike other sports that stop and start, aiding in the collection of immense data, soccer builds a non-stop story that can challenge the viewer—full of dialogue that may seem meaningless until the entire tale unfolds. And even then you may not get a final payoff; as fans of soccer and Woody Allen films know, you must enjoy the ride. Life follows the same path, so I guess it’s no surprise those three things converge into one around the first-ever American film festival dedicated to soccer.

When Kicking and Screening opens on July 14, that moment of success, that convergence of soccer, film, and life will not be lost on the festival’s founder, Rachel Markus, who had the red carpet pulled from underneith her festival in London before the idea’s resurrection in New York. “Soccer is art,” she says. “Film is art. It’s not a question of the final outcome, but how you got to that final outcome where the beauty lies.” Click HERE for the full story…

NY Red Bulls face off against the Navy’s USS Roosevelt to help kick-off Fleet Week

A celebration of the U.S. Armed Forces held around Memorial Day in New York, Fleet Week offered up one of the best PR events Red Bull has ever held and a precious photo opportunity. Under blazing sun cut by the riverside breeze, the teams played two small-sided games on the flight deck of the former USS Intrepid, (now a museum) which sits docked along the Hudson River on the west side of midtown Manhattan.

Sadly few fans turned out for the weekday afternoon event, but TIAS was there… Click HERE for the full story…

Cosmos’ owner wants bygones to be bygones, and someone to take the team into MLS

In the May issue of Britain’s FourFourTwo magazine Welsh midfielder and onetime New Englander Andy Dorman lists his MLS highlights as such: Winning the US Open Cup, playing against Cuauhtemoc Blanco, and “also, one time New York brought the old Cosmos players over and I met Pele and Beckenbauer. Not much tops that.”

You can’t go very long in the American soccer world before running into the Cosmos, be it through celebration of their successes or condemnation of their part in the NASL collapse. Today it may be little more than a tape library hidden away in New Jersey, but for sure people know the name; a foreign magazine sees no need to print explanation.

And while it’s hard to get past the fact that MLS built its entire league in direct financial opposition to seemingly everything the Cosmos stood for—a high-powered SuperClub built to thrill audiences and roll over lesser opponents—the Designated Player rule now allows for at least one big signing per team, The Beckham Experiment will teach a few lessons, and the upcoming collective bargaining will at least test the stubborn salary cap.

Sure it’s still a frugal league, but MLS is inching towards the Cosmos.

Click HERE for the full story…

A group of ambassadors to the United Nations, including Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea, played a little pick-up soccer at my home field of Pier 40 in New York over the weekend. Balls found the back of the net, but the real goals were to raise money for Play 31, a relief program in Sierra Leone, and awareness around the power or soccer to unify people after conflict.

The New York Times Goal Blog ran a preview of the so-called DiploMatch, and I figured someone would give this some post-game coverage–but after years of covering soccer in America maybe I should have known better.

I found a good vantage point above the action that I hope through photography allows for not just a celebration of sport, but the unusual location as well. Click HERE for the full story…

SOUNDERS LOOK TO THE FUTURE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE WITH RECENT HIRE

Once the next generation comes along, the argument goes, American soccer will finally succeed—on the field and in the national consciousness. People been saying that for more than a few decades. But with each new crop of players and coaches and players who become coaches there is new hope created. If for no other reason everyone feels at some point that their generation is the next generation, and dammit it’d be different if we were in charge (because they made it that way).

My first coach was a teammate’s dad, not a soccer coach. My first school coach was a Deadhead, and while the tour anecdotes were priceless, the soccer experience wasn’t there. My varsity coach played at Notre Dame but his practices weren’t much different from that first father. But now, as the global stars of soccer are increasingly younger than me, I’m wondering if it was merely wishful thinking when my adolescent angst promised it would be different—“just wait till guys like me are coaching.”

Minus the coaching experience at every amateur level and the NCAA national championship, and well, in fact, the entire college career, Kurt Schmid is a guy like me. And at 27, he’s younger than me–the first MLS coach that I can say that about. Just 26 when we has hired, Schmid has to be one of the youngest MLS coaches ever when he joined the Seattle Sounders as assistant coach and scout (MLS hasn’t kept track of every assistant coach).

So I guess there’s a few things that separate us after our teenage years. Oh, and that little thing about his dad. After the jump, TIAS steals time with the younger coach Schmid to get his story and figure out how we avoid making liars out of another soccer generation. Click HERE for the full story…

U.S. 2, MEXICO 0. AND NOW MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP

The wind was angry that night my friends, the only real surprise to a script (and score) U.S. Soccer has written before. Both countries added roughly the same ingredients, but only the U.S. looked to stir it up, even holding the ball better than anytime in recent memory.

Two goals and strong midfield play didn’t seal player of the match for young Bradley. It was the kind of night where nearly everything went right. There were a few breakdowns and Coach Bradley made the obvious subs–Ching wore out and Kljestan added less than his best. Given the opponent, I’d only ask for Torres instead of Clark, but the newfound possession game alone left fans with joker smiles after the game. “We might have turned a corner tonight,” one fan mused.

And god love Tim Howard

photo story after the jump…

Click HERE for the full story…

On the same day New York City Mayor Bloomberg presented keys to city to the pilots and crew of the US Air flight that recently landed in the Hudson River, the city council met to discuss throwing out the keys to all 89 artificial turf fields in the city that were installed with “crumb rubber,” that pellet-like ingredient that is added to the fake grass, giving it that dirt-like feel…

and filling your socks, shoes, shorts, and just about every crease and crack on your body. Click HERE for the full story…

Scotland’s Bad News Bears to become America’s Team for TV audiences

It could be the best of TV. It could be the worst of TV. If Paul McDonald has his way, this summer fans will be making the calls on who plays and who doesn’t on a small football club tucked in the highlands of western Scotland.

A few weeks ago there was a a flurry of news coverage about the project in the UK. Little if anything appeared here in the States, which made the new franchise’s name-America’s Team FC-all the more curious. But the BBC picked it up, so it must be real. And it is, but as of yet only 62 people have voted on the TV show/team’s website for who they think should be the first recruit, so there’s not exactly worries about the website crashing–or producers cashing in–just yet. And they’ve only got 51 Facebook fans, so while the BBC found it novel enough to cover, the buzz isn’t exactly blowing up.

But those few people could make some history if they choose to pony up $50 to play real-life fantasy soccer (and maybe watch as their preferred winger gets in a fight at the pub for making out with some Scot’s girl). It’s just all so weird, sad, fascinating, ridiculous, evil, genius–I had to learn more. If not this show, there’s no doubt TV is heading toward the interactive. Soccer on the cutting edge or cutting down the game? But damnit, this means I’m going to have to pause The Rock of Love Bus to give McDonald a call and get to the bottom of this… Click HERE for the full story…