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

Florida is a man-made state. I believe they made it official a few years ago. A favor George asked of Jeb. I assume. I saw an alligator crying. There only seems to be three things fit for the filled-in swamp. Death, golf, and soccer. Maybe tennis. fine, football too. Sports, all sports. Ok, I’m just trying to make a point. In the developers eyes, the unbearably flat forest begs for gated golf communities, residents thirst for the immediate availability of 64 refillable ounces, and old folks, well, they just want a warm place to die. The developer aims to fill that desire. The cool thing, though, is that as long as the weather is warm and there’s something to keep the attention of the placid public, people in mass will actually let it happen. Howdy Neighbor. It helps if you can offer some things that few other places can outside the desert. People like to play golf, but they also like the ocean. Florida 1, Arizona 0. Old people like to play golf too. Good, because all my neighbors’ names are Grandma and Grandpa. Right, we’ll get some pharmacies and funeral homes. And all these people locked inside these cages, being monitered by security guards. Yeah, well, they are having kids as if it lowers their handicap. Yes, lots of universities. And the little ones, running around barefoot covered in popsicle? Ok, well, we just filled in that estuary over there. They can play sports, soccer, whatever. There’s a few straggling gators, but they’re more scared of you than you are of them.

Ah Florida. How I missed you so. It’s been a few years since I moved from the sunshine state, but more immediate upon my arrival was the thought that it had been a few months since I have driven a car. I just barely missed that gas pump. “Excuse me?” Oh nothing. I had $80 dollars in gas on pump 5 and this 64-ounce bad-boy. This is refillable right… great. Sorry. Anyhow, I used to live here and love that I don’t, but I have to admit, if you’re going to have a hyper elite year-round soccer camp there’s probably no better place for it. And don’t think for a second the developers didn’t know that when they filled in this once wild and beautiful wetland.
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All of those yearning for an experienced European such as Klinsmann just got their man. kind of. maybe, if, probably. Eh, whatever. Former DC United Coach Peter Nowak was named the assistant coach of the U.S. U-23 MNT, effective immediately. Opinions being gathered for tomorrow’s Barometer. Until then, John Haydon details some of the history the new Olympic Coaches (just that for now) share.

A FULL FRIDAY EDITION 

An interesting day to say the least. I got to catch up with Clint Dempsey, but first the news everyone is talking about (call this the Barometer for this week). I have to preface this with the fact that I feel extremely lucky to be down here in Bradenton. I can’t imagine a better place to take the pulse of American soccer on a day when news breaks like this. For the record, as if you don’t already know, the news is this: Bob Bradley will be the next Olympic Coach (U-23) and the interim head coach of the national team until May or June of next year when USSF hopes to name a permanent coach, which could be Bradley. It also could be one of several of Sunil Gulati’s final list, which was the only real explanation the media received during a conference call with the USSF president and his new hire about why this non-committal decision is happening now. Two unnamed coaches are still in the midst of European seasons and thus unable to accept the job, if offered, at the present time… accordingly to Gulati, who on more than one occasion during the hour-long conference call pleaded the fifth, or as he said, I’m not going to go into that any further.

These federation announcements always come with a grain of salt the size of Lot’s wife. Frankly, I detest them. The nuts and bolts of sports journalism is as frustrating as anything for me. These calls are a complete waste of time. You sit there listening, pretty much knowing they aren’t going to show their hand, allowing them the politically correct and overly safe answers that in my opinion only add fuel the fire. After speaking to plenty of brass and the man on the street, my conclusions are this:
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Please pardon the late post. I’ve just woke up from where I passed out on my hotel room floor a few hours ago. I just had one of the better soccer days - three great youth national team games (the U-17 US MNT tied Brazil 2-2 with a goal in the closing minutes while playing a man down. For a full recap of the game from someone who has been following these kids seemingly since birth, check out Robert Ziegler’s Top Drawer Soccer (very cheap subscription required). As outspoken Goal Keeper Coach Tim Mulqueen noted from the bench, all be it before the game-tying goal “Only in America do you get a bad PK call (GK Zac MacMath was called for what appeared to be a clean tackle) and a guy sent off.” That is American Soccer. No respect. Not even on our home field. There was very little friendly in this friendly, but maybe there is a reason for the lack of respect…

Klinsmann will not be the next US MNT coach, and tomorrow i’ll be sure to get some professional opinions from other USSF coaches and players. These guys are going to have to work for Sunil and Bradley (at least for now), so I don’t expect anything too ‘honest’, but surely it will be the buzz around here for the rest of the weekend. At times like this I turn to Grant Wahl, and he does by far the best job of putting things into perspective. For the record, I like Bradley, but the fan in me wanted the big name with the big career and big international results (as a head coach) already on his resume.

To help sate the devil inside, after the jump are some pregame and postgame words from U-17 head coach John Hackworth on the Brazil game, as well as a few photos from the day. Much Much more to come. (and dont forget to send in your answer to the essay contest!)
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I’m back in the swamp of Florida for the next few days, attending the Nike Friendlies (full disclosure: Nike sponsors this website) and doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: get deep inside the USSF residency program (did you know their school is in a strip-mall), all of which is at IMG Academy in Bradenton, where us normal folk pay upwards of $70,000 for a year of on-sight instruction from the nation’s best coaches in any number of sports (Nick Bollettieri first brought attention to this mess of filled-in wetlands with his tennis academy).

It’s never too late to live a childhood dream, and this is as close as I’ll get (alas, there is no U-30 team). My arrival has already been filled with education and enlightenment, but I’m going to need some time to let it sink in. Check back for daily updates from the field, the U-17 MNT’s game against Brazil, and from Clint Dempsey, as well as longer stories on the youth developmental program. There’s a little bit for everyone here. Those of you wondering how to get in the program, I’ll have some advice from the man in charge, John Hackworth. Those looking to see who our rising MNT stars will be, I’ll bring you some names and hopefully let some of those names speak for themselves. For some of us, the future is 2010, but for these 14, 15, 16, and 17-year-olds, the future is now, with dreams of pro soccer and maybe, maybe, a trip to South Africa.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter (see above) wants to move the European club season from their present schedule to one that runs from February to November, not too unlike MLS. (So much for Eurofication along those lines). Blatter also contends he is set to instill the ‘6-plus-5 plan’, the oft discussed idea of requiring six citizen players to outnumber 5 foreigners in the name of club and country.

This is awful rich for a Monday morning. What does it all mean? Has MLS been handed a big candy bar? Will European club teams get worse while national teams improve? Where will all the Brazilians go? Is this the first step toward socialist soccer?

Look on the bright side: if the 2003 Pentagon Report is correct, and the Atlantic Ocean’s thermohaline conveyor breaks down sending Western Europe into an ice age, similar to what happened during the Younger Dryas about 13,000 years ago, summer really will be the best time to play soccer.

Blatter wants Europe to move to summer schedule [Reuters]

So give it to them. Outlining what would be my greatest gift this holiday season, LA Times’ Grahame L. Jones looks to the future for USSF. Nothing really earth shattering or different than what plenty have been calling for, but Jones sees Klinsmann in and looking to make big changes. it just makes me happy to hear coming from somewhere besides my dreams.

It’d be a new game for U.S. [LA Times]

Szetela, Wynne, Adu, Nguyen, Feilhaber, Gaven, Sanchez, Arvizu? Give them a shot. What do we have to lose?

I don’t speak Spanish, so it’s hard for me to know exactly what’s in this article from Mexican paper La Opinion, but while speaking to ESPN Soccernet’s Jeff Carlysle on Saturday, I learned it says former Argentina coach Jose Pekerman is going to be announced as the next US MNT manager. As my head began exploding (I kept my maturity until I finished my interview with Jeff, which you’ll see in a few days), I tried to put onto paper just how wrong I thought this would be - I’ve long been in the camp that wants to hand over everything to Klinsmann. I started writing. Saturday turned to Sunday - still writing. I saw the future of US Soccer going down the toilet. Maybe a bit a harsh. Maybe I just was witnessing American Soccer settle for the second best, but either way, this is, was, better be wrong, wrong, wrong.

I was halfway through the second page, derailing the Pekerman proposition. It was something to do with the fact that he doesn’t even speak English. I went searching online to ensure I was right on this fact, when I eventually get to Yanks Abroad. I search Pekerman and an op-ed from Mark Flannery pops up. Seems he beat me to the punch and said just about everything I wanted to. So, in proper blogging fashion, I’ll let him say it. No shame in that, I’ll add it in, whatever the outcome, to my answer to the essay question (see below).

No one better defines the up-and-down life cycle of a professional athlete – or more importantly (and bumpier), that of an American footballer abroad – than DaMarcus Beasley: the name garners both praise and cynicism wherever I bring it up. Would a move to the English Premier League change any of that? We’re about to find out.
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While the mainstream media serves up cliché this week - ESPN the Magazine shines a light into the darkness, letting the US MNT know what it needs to do in order to compete on the international level: “deal with pressure” “play to strengths” “nurse a lead” “own the back line” “adapt and adjust” and “play with style.” Genius. I thought we could use a little real world advice, a little comment on specifics that I can’t find anywhere. Over the last month, I’ve been chatting up everybody from the casual cup fan to professional soccer journalists, looking for a path out of the darkness. Is darkness too harsh a word? Given that I’ve not a single concrete answer for where US Soccer is heading, part of me wants to come up with something stronger than darkness, something in line with the gravitational power of a black hole. This is no alarmist philosophy, just down home realism about the mystery of the US MNT.

Catch or Release? Szetela, Wynne, Adu. Nguyen, Feilhaber, Gaven, Sanchez, Arvizu?
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