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A DIARY PROJECT FROM JEFF FRENZEL

I’ll start off by saying that the real estate market here in Atlanta right now is abysmal, which, on any given day is a bad thing for me and my wallet, but today turned out to be a good thing because I could skip out of work at 2:30 to get to the local soccer bar by the 3:05 kickoff of the USA vs. England game. I’m only interested in one piece of real estate right now: that 115 yards by 75 yards located in the middle of London.

I’m really excited. I usually watch English Premier League games, sometimes toss in the big games of Spain and Italy too. But watching my national team battle against the big boys of Europe and South America (yeah, Spain and Argentina are next) makes my stomach tighten up and my nerves cringe. And today there will be no exception…

Atlantans have three choices to watch soccer games in the city. Fado’s Irish pub, the Brewhouse Café and their couch. I usually vote for the latter for it’s cheap beverages and ability to pause, rewind and yell at the screen without missing a second with TiVo. But today was special. Today I needed camaraderie. Today I needed noise. Today I needed passion (and apparently so did the USA team). I went to Fado, a chain of Irish themed pubs (think Disneyland for drunks) that regularly shows the games. The crowd started out thin, about 20-25 patrons, mostly Three Lions fans, but gradually that number increased to about 50-60 the closer we got to happy hour. Not much camaraderie, noise or passion here. I’ll stick with the Brewhouse next time.

The game started off with what I saw as a bad omen. No, not Goldenball’s receiving a golden cap for his 100 golden appearances. The England team came out of the tunnel with the usual pairing with young boys wearing a matching England kit. The American team came out of the tunnel with all girls wearing their kit! Girls! The Brits already think we should let Mia Hamm play for our men’s national team because she is the only American who can score goals! A subtle little jab by the FA? I can be a conspiracy theorist, but that lady who confused me for Mel Gibson behind binoculars peering at Julia Roberts? That was just rude.

I was happy to see that two Atlanta boys had made the line up: Josh Wolfe and Ricardo Clark. This game becomes more interesting to watch when someone you played against or someone who went to your alma mater not only make the team but start as well. I’m not saying they played well (Josh is looking a little old and wearied out there and Ricardo’s defense is suspect). The rest of the lineup was no surprise except for the absence of our leading scorer, Landon Donavan, which was deflating. I’m still wondering how Mr. Big got away from the Sex in the City premier to officiate this match.

Back to the game. Reviewing my notes of this game is like reading the notes from the previous matches under Bradley: weak in the middle; losing 50/50 balls; giving the ball away; long ball; give it to Dempsey!; where is Beasley? Something needs to change here. I’m getting pissed, not just at the game, but at the stupid man next to me talking about Aussie rules football and asking why Beckham is not playing on the American’s side?!!!! These are the stereotypes we have to deal with when it comes to soccer in the USA. Uninformed and unsophisticated. And ESPN doesn’t help things. The game was scheduled in the middle of the afternoon and they would still rather show two reruns of SportsCenter on ESPN and the Deuce than show the US National team against the creators of the game. I don’t even get ESPN Classic! And don’t get me started about the lackluster announcers. When is Ray Hudson going to take the plunge and come over to the dark side of commentating on MLS/USA games? Then again, his talent would have been underused in this game; nary a moment worthy of a proper Hudson explosion.

I digress. 38th minute and the first goal of the game goes to John Terry. Great cross by Becks to the England captain. I don’t think that goal will make up for Terry’s Champions League final debacle, but he did look like he had just Kill(ed) Bill after that ball went in. The second half was worse than the first for the Americans. Stevie Gerrard played out of position the whole game and still scored a goal! The few American subs didn’t make much of a difference until Freddy Adu (aka USA’s Kiddo) made it into the game. He looked lackluster and bored at times but he is the future of American soccer and Bradley needs to notice this.

Bradley had his A-squad of European based players on the English pitch to evaluate. Some underperformed, some performed to their potential, but no one will argue that anyone on our side of the pitch over-performed. He’s got a couple of high profile games to get our team on the right track.