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

deep impact edition 

Abbey Road aint got nothing on Stax. Booker T & the MGs in Memphis, 1970.

If every action has an opposite and equal reaction (TK’s law) than Freddy Adu’s story evened out this week after its meteoric jump the last month. One of his favorite coaches, Real Salt Lake’s John Ellinger stepped down from his consolation prize of technical director with the club, while one of his least favorite coaches, former DC United and present US MNT assistant Peter Nowak was awarded the U23 MNT (Olympic team) head coaching job. What will come of Ellinger – back to USSF maybe – is a less interesting question that how Nowak and Adu will work together in Bejieng next year.

MLS progress and a lack of progress on a certain ankle made the vast majority of a slow week in American soccer in which we’re waiting for teams from USL to MLS to shake out so that we might, might, be able to determine what the heck is going on. We’ll start figuring it out after the jump…
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A good week for MLS. Another pay-day (and some good will?) came with Adu’s transfer; American teams are playing well against their Mexican counterparts in Superliga, which apart from its poor English-language TV coverage has turned out to be a success (one way soccer can find a better home here in America is by embracing all these little international offshoots and creating year-round soccer); MLS even sold its TV rights for Scandinavia and a good portion of Eastern Europe (besides Russia), which means someone thinks somebody over there wants to watch (more than just Beckham? I hate how now Beckham makes me question the reason behind everything good that happens in terms of coverage, ratings, etc. Is it fair of me to think so? I’m not sure.)

The rest of this week’s top stories and best hits after the jump…
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IN DEFENSE OF THE ATTACK EDITION

ESPN is the network that hired Rush Limbaugh. That should say it all.

It’s been going on long before the worldwide leader started airing soccer and if you’re a betting man, put your money down now that it will be going on long after the United States wins a world cup. ESPN sucks. It’s been sucking, like MTV once it latched onto reality television, like liposuction going after the muscle instead of the fat: besides the pain of extraction, there is the aftershock of being left with nothing but grizzle. What Now (who’s now)?

Short of a catastrophe, my last thoughts on ESPN are after the jump…
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YOU’RE NOT ALONE EDITION

It’s funny; it’s gross; it’s painful; it’s effective; it’s better once it’s over. Wait, MLS or a clown vomiting?

Sometimes, it seems like MLS can’t win. No matter what they do, no matter the positive angles, fans and critics alike seemingly always find something wrong. Whether it’s expansion planning, player signings, or the halftime band at the MLS All-star game (Oh My…), MLS is always one or two cards short of the perfect hand. Two pair is nice, but that full house (in the stadiums?!?!) would be plum.

Beckhams will come and go, but you’ll always have your family. That’s what I was thinking after reading all the Beckham obituaries over the last week. I also received a few dozen e-mails from readers on their thoughts on Beckham’s first week in enemy territory. By the way, I love hearing readers thoughts, so keep ‘em coming, and don’t forget to send in your Diary Project entries.

I, like I suspect a lot of American soccer fans out there, was riding the fence as Beckham rolled up like a good savior always does. I didn’t really want to talk about it, and as you may have noticed, I really haven’t said much at all about it here since the original announcement, after which I made my case. But between e-mailers and the onslaught of pieces, from which there was actually some entertaining reading, I’d be remiss not to address here in the weekly news round up (and better than I did last week). This is the barometer, and damn if it’s not raining Beckham, with pressure continuing to build.
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BALLAD OF A THIN MAN EDITION

You walk into the room / With your pencil in your hand / You see somebody naked / And you say, “Who is that man?” / You try so hard / But you don’t understand / Just what you’ll say / When you get home / Because something is happening here / But you don’t know what it is / Do you, Mister Jones?

Grant Wahl’s cover story on Beckham’s arrival.
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The US MNT dropped its third straight game last night against Columbia in an uninspired performance against an uninspiring team. None of it comes as a surprise, but did you know this is the first time the team has lost three straight in six years? Most people in the U.S. don’t.

Outside of a certain one-game, hat trick resurgence (let’s hope it continues tonight as, what, the game is on ESPN, not some marginal spin-off no one gets? To what do we owe this honor?), there was not much to watch or read about this week, but somehow I did more of both… to the pain, in the words of a retired pirate Roberts. A team heads home after battle, with some gone for good. What remains after the carnage is after the jump…
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We beat Canada. That’s good, but it’s far from all good. Lots of promise; lots of problems. I’m just not ready to accept that as the status quo. Why can’t the team play 90 minutes? Well, Sunday is going to awesome, even if we lose. I’ll be at the two friendlies here at Giants stadium tomorrow to help quell the anticipation.

The winner this week in grabbing the barometer’s attention goes to former New York Mets manager and present manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League, Bobby Valentine. He thinks Japanese baseball is declining in popularity, wait for it, because soccer is growing so quickly.

He suggests that baseball is not connecting with the youth, continuing, “In the old days, dads would teach their kids to play baseball,” said Valentine. “But they are too busy now so the moms take the kids to the park and if they have a choice between baseball and soccer they teach the kids soccer and who can blame them?”

Ok, so that’s kind of just a joke. Really, the tip of the hat goes to Richard Justice for his column from Wednesday (see last post). Or Maybe this little piece - Save the Soccer Tacos - which was picked up by several national papers. Keep in mind, this is more or less the neighborhood the Mets ownership wants to put the second MLS franchise in New York.

Oh, and Barcelona signed some guy named Henry.

The rest of this weeks top hits are after the jump…
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 SPICELESS EDITION

The Spice Girls made the cover of Rolling Stone. Does anyone remember when Rolling Stone was a good magazine?

Temper expectations. Isn’t that how I’ve been putting it, in regards to the success of American soccer? Well, apparently the same goes for Victoria Beckham’s reality series, which has been shortened from series to special. I can only imagine the resources devoted to Pairs Hilton have left Ms. Beckham with little more than a handycam over her shoulder, or maybe they found Posh to be one spice short of a ratings grabber (could that be soccer’s fault?). So it’s slow this week, but we’ve got the Gold Cup (game schedules here).

The first real game of the year for Bradley’s US MNT is tomorrow, and all my focus is on good thoughts. Good thoughts. We gave back the canal, but we’re gonna try to hold on to this cup for awhile. A few nips and tucks after the jump…
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Gold Cup. It was a frustrating one to watch, though with moments of promise… such is the life of a US MNT fan. I have two short game notes. One regards my man Gooch. Man, he is in a rough patch. Let’s hope after he returns to the field, his touch returns too. It’s almost as if he is too big for his own good out there. Lately, he’s had this brute quality, and it’s just too easy for the refs to blow the whistle on him, especially against a little goat like Ruiz. Which brings me to point number two. I cannot express how much I dislike Ruiz (the Paris Hilton of the MLS?). Any respect I held for him prior to this game is now lost. He is my best example of what is wrong with the sport today.

It’s a short barometer today, as it’s all Gold Cup, all the time. Head over to du Nord for links to, well, everything. Add to your list of links the new site from some Yanks Abroad apples, which have fallen from the tree. Of course, they only fall so far. Should be interesting to see how all this shakes out.

As Ives Galarcep mentioned last night on his blog, he is next up on my conversational tour with the nation’s best soccer writers. Ives is a bit worried he won’t be as interesting as Grant Wahl or Jack Bell, but I beg to differ. He might not have the famous photos, but as true a beat writer as soccer has, he has some things to say that everyone needs to hear. So check back soon for that. In the meantime, check out Ives’ blog. He might not be based in what has become the Mecca of MLS soccer this summer (and where the US MNT train) like another blog by beat writers, but for news and thoughtful commentary from the entire world of soccer, it doesn’t get any better than Soccer by Ives.

STAYING AROUND EDITION

God save us all. Yanks Abroad, the finest on-line contribution to American soccer abroad was rumored most notably by MLS Underground to be closing its digital doors or as MLSU put it, YA had “suspended operations indefinitely.” MLSU was so far underground in this instance Plamegate came to mind, in terms of simply printing unsubstantiated material from secret sources. MLSU does a fine job with what they do and offers educated opinions on soccer topics, but I see no reason it needs to come at everything under a veil of secrecy. As far as i can tell, they haven’t had a single real scoop ever. I mean no offense with that, but why the gag?

A few simple e-mails and a phone call with YA president Chad Winger confirmed my suspicion that this information was not true. Finances are surely tight as with any soccer publication, and in the case of a site like Yanks Abroad where so many contributors in so many places have an interest in how the business is run (soccer business has the same growing pains as soccer in general) these problems have the chance to compound, but still no better product exists, and Winger assured me he is planning on a long future for the business, as noted this morning on their site. During our conversation Winger noted several interesting initiatives building steam while most of their content targets are in the off-season. Like any good team, YA is looking to use the offseason to make improvements.

In other news, MLS just can’t get out of the way of National Team schedules – it will be interesting to see the ratings of the two as the summer progresses in that more than a few games will be fighting head-to-head for television viewership. With all the focus on the upcoming NT matches, and what with little to say at this point until the games get rolling, this week’s barometer is letting loose on a few random, but interesting stories circulating around the soccersphere. A Grant Wahl teaser and the rest of the week’s intrigue are after the jump…
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