U.S. National Teams
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Zac MacMath, the Union's first-round SuperDraft pick, on stage after the selection was announced. (Jonathan Tannenwald/Philly.com)
BALTIMORE - When the time came for the Philadelphia Union to make their first-round MLS SuperDraft pick yesterday, there were a lot of quality players to choose from.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
One of the really great things about being at the NSCAA Convention is that it brings together people who represent many different parts of the American soccer landscape.
If you are relatively new to American soccer, then the names Earnie Stewart, Claudio Reyna and April Heinrichs might not mean much to you. But if you've followed the sport for a while, you know that each of them could be the subject of an entire chapter in the history of the game in this country.
As the MLS SuperDraft wound down yesterday, I noticed that Stewart and Reyna were standing at the back of the hall. So I approached them and was able to get exclusive interviews with both legends of the U.S. men's national team. You can listen to those conversations in the audio player at the bottom of this post.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
The United States has been drawn with North Korea, Colombia and Sweden for the group stage of the 2011 Women's World Cup, which will take place next summer in Germany.
The U.S. qualified for the World Cup by winning a two-leg playoff over Italy, 2-0 on aggregate. Philadelphia Independence forward Amy Rodriguez scored the winning goal in the second leg, a 1-0 win this past Saturday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. You can watch a video of Rodriguez's goal at the bottom of the post.
Despite having had to play the playoff, the U.S. was one of the four seeded teams in the draw because of its high place in the FIFA world rankings. But the high seed did not prevent the U.S. from getting a tough group that includes longtime rivals North Korea and Sweden.
Both teams were in the U.S.' group in 2007 and 2003, and North Korea was in the U.S.' group in 1999. Sweden was in the U.S.' group at the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991.
Here is the draw in full. The seeded teams are listed first:
Group A: Germany, Canada, Nigeria, France
Group B: Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, England
Group C: United States, North Korea, Colombia, Sweden
Group D: Brazil, Australia, Norway, Equatorial Guinea
Germany vs. Canada will be the opening match of the tournament, which will run from June 26 to July 17. The United States' first match will be against North Korea, which will be interesting for all the reasons you can think of.
The venues are Augsburg, Berlin, Bochm, Dresden, Frankfurt, Leverkusen, Moenchengladbach, Sinsheim and Wolfsburg. Berlin's famed Olympic Stadium will host the opening game, and the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt will host the championship game.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
In case you haven't seen them yet, there were some great goals scored today around the wide world of international soccer.
One came in the United States' win over South Africa in Cape Town, an impressive performance by a young and experimental American squad. It was a lively game, but it took until the 85th minute for a goal to be scored. Mikkel Diskerud played a nifty chip to 17-year-old Juan Agudelo, who controlled the ball and shot it into the net off the crossbar.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Sebastien Le Toux finally got a decent honor today, as he was named to Major League Soccer's Best XI for the 2010 season.
The Best XI is basically an all-league team. It is voted on by members of the media, players, coaches and general managers in MLS.
Le Toux scored 14 goals and dished out 11 assists, contributing to an MLS record 71.4 percent of his team's goals in the season.
The full Best XI is a 3-5-2:
Goalkeeper: Donovan Ricketts, Los Angeles Galaxy
Defenders: Jamison Olave, Real Salt Lake; Nat Borchers, Real Salt Lake; Omar Gonzalez, Los Angeles Galaxy
Midfielders: Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy; David Ferreira, FC Dallas; Javier Morales, Real Salt Lake; Sebastien Le Toux, Philadelphia Union; Dwayne De Rosario, Toronto FC
Forwards: Chris Wondolowski, San Jose Earthquakes; Edson Buddle, Los Angeles Galaxy
Landon Donovan was originally listed on the ballot as a forward, but the league moved him to midfield for the final XI because it was clear that he (and other forwards) deserved to be there.
In other soccer news...
- MLS commissioner Don Garber gave his state-of-the-league address today. Among the news items from his remarks were the creation of a reserve league; the elimination of the cap on homegrown players on a team's senior roster; the expansion of rosters from 26 players to 30; and the possibility that the MLS Cup final will be played at the home of the highest seed instead of at a neutral site.
The Washington Post's Steven Goff, the Seattle Times' Joshua Mayers and AOL FanHouse's Brian Straus have the details, as well as many more interesting tidbits from what was apparently a very long conference call with reporters.
- The Kansas City Wizards will have a new name next year. An official announcement will be made tomorrow that the club is changing its name Sporting Kansas City. The change coincides with the opening of the Wizards' new stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. SoccerByIves.net has the details of the name change, including the new logo, here.
- Women's Professional Soccer will play on in 2011. The Washington Freedom and Boston Breakers found investors to remain afloat at the last minute. The league will have six teams next season: Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Atlanta, Sky Blue FC (New Jersey) and the new Buffalo/Rochester franchise. FC Gold Pride, the league's reigning champions, have folded.
Independence owner David Halstead wrote a letter to fans earlier this month regarding his team's financial situation. In it, he noted that the Independence hopes to get on a sound enough financial footing to be able to "accept the Union's offer" to play at PPL Park in 2012 or 2013.
- Ian Darke will call the U.S. national team's game at South Africa on Wednesday for ESPN. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 starting at 2 p.m. Darke will be joined in Cape Town by John Harkes, wtih Bob Ley, Alexi Lalas and Steve McMannaman in the studio.
Prior to the U.S.-South Africa game, ESPN2 will air the Brazil-Argentina game being played in Doha, Qatar. Adrian Healey and Robbie Mustoe will be on the mic, with the broadcast starting at 11:55 a.m.
Darke and Harkes will then head to Toronto to call the MLS Cup Final on Sunday night between FC Dallas and Colorado. They will be joined by Max Bretos, Alexi Lalas and McMannaman in an on-site studio at BMO Field.
The U.S women's national team's two-leg World Cup playoff against Italy will air exclusively on ESPN3.com. The first game will be this Saturday in Italy at 10:30 a.m., and the second game will be at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., on November 27.
ESPN held a conference call with Darke, Harkes and Lalas this afternoon. I'll have a writeup on here tomorrow morning.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
United States 0, Colombia 0: Kerith Gabriel | Kate Harman | Associated Press | Washington Post
More coverage: Soccer Insider | ESPN.com | SI.com | New York Times | Ives Galarcep | Michael Lewis
Here are my postgame thoughts from the United States national team's scoreless draw with Colombia at PPL Park last night. We'll get the bad side of the ledger out of the way first.
The bad
- The first half was incredibly boring. Bob Bradley's starting lineup produced almost nothing in attack, while Colombia made runs forward every once in a while but couldn't do anything with them. The only true attacking player on the field for the U.S. in the first half was Jozy Altidore, and he appeared stranded up top on numerous occasions.
- Bob Bradley's 4-3-3 formation was too defensive. It's not necessarily bad to play a 4-3-3, and there's certainly no shame in experimenting with different formations in a friendly match at the very start of a new World Cup cycle. But the midfield trio of Jermaine Jones, Maurice Edu and Michael Bradley did not work. Stuart Holden contributed some to the attack, but Brek Shea didn't go forward much. Which leads to my next point...
- There was almost no width whatsoever in the first half. This was especially true in the midfield. In addition to the aforementioned lack of spark and creativity, the U.S. midfield had no width whatsoever. Brek Shea's positioning in particular left a big gap in the part of the field you'd expect a player in his position to occupy. As a result, Jozy Altidore had to cover even more ground than he was already assigned as the lone striker.
- The U.S. struggled to possess the ball. That's not news to anyone who's watched this team regularly, but it's still worth noting. Every once in a while, Michael Bradley and the central defensive pairing of Clarence Goodson and Oguchi Oneywu would string a few passes together across the back line. But once the ball started moving forward, it was almost always turned over right away.
- None of the U.S. players seemed willing or able to really take control and dictate the flow of the game. Clint Dempsey came closest, wich was no surprise given his talent. But the game would have been so different if Landon Donovan was on the roster.
That's not to say he should have been, because the U.S. Soccer Federation made a fair deal to allow MLS players to remain with their clubs for the playoff race. It's just a statement about how much Donovan matters to the U.S. team's success, because he is the one player on the squad who can really break through opponents and finish opportunities.
The good
- Jermaine Jones and Eric Lichaj were impressive. I liked Jones' ball control and willingness to make runs with the ball both on the flank and in the center of the field. There were concerns for a while that the German-American wouldn't live up to the great hype that has surrounded him for the last few months, but Jones certainly seems worth a regular place in the U.S. rotation.
The same is true of Lichaj, a right back who got his first ever cap last night. He made good runs forward, but also never seemed to be completely caught out at the back. Lichaj also displayed a bit of gumption, cleaning up a Colombian attack by backheeling the ball onto his head in order to send a legal pass back to U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
- The U.S. back line as a whole played well. Yes, Colombia made a lot of dangerous runs forward, but the more I think about it the more I think that was a result of the space opened up on the flanks by the 4-3-3 formation. Clarence Goodson and Oguchi Oneywu both made strong but clean tackles at key times, and even left back Heath Pearce did a good job at closing down Colombian attackers.
- I thought Jozy Altidore played well despite the limitations he was dealt. Clearly, Altidore plays better when he has a second forward out there with him. Not all strikers can play alone up top, even among the great goal-scorers in the sport. Once Eddie Johnson got out there in the second half, Altidore looked livelier and was able to contribute more to the attack.
- Stuart Holden serves a pretty nice free kick. Holden sent multiple balls into the right places in the box, and it wasn't his fault that none of his teammates could head those chances in the right direction. Look for Holden to continue taking free kicks for the U.S., especially when he can swing the ball into the box from the flanks.
- Despite the poor attendance, the atmosphere was terrific. The attendance was announced as 8,823, and it actually looked the part. The River End was packed with red shirts, and their chants carried plenty loudly throughout the night. Alas, not everything they came up with was all that creative, which led to a lot of grumbling in the press box about the same foul language we've heard at PPL Park all year.
There were also a lot of Colombian fans in the stands, frankly more than I expected there to be. But they also helped liven things up as wide swaths of PPL Park were draped in the red, yellow and blue of the Colombian flag.
It certainly would have helped things if a goal had been scored. To me, a scoreless draw seemed the right result, as both teams were unable to convert their attacks into geniune chances. But it's clear that the U.S. and Colombian teams are works in progress, and they used this game to try new things as a new four-year cycle of international soccer begins.
As you've already noticed, there's a photo gallery from the game above as well as links to coverage from the Inquirer and Daily News as well as other media outlets that were on hand. There's also a video with some analysis from me and postgame interviews.
In the audio player below, you'll hear from U.S. coach Bob Bradley and players Jozy Altidore, Stuart Holden, Eric Lichaj and Brad Guzan. From the Colombian side, Faryd Mondragon gave a postgame interview in English, while coach Hernand Dario Gomez spoke in Spanish.
Union midfielder Roger Torres was also on hand, and he clearly enjoyed having his country's national team at his new home. Torres spoke through an interpreter with local reporters outside the locker rooms, and you'll notice that he's starting to pick up his English a bit.
The last track is a pregame interview I did with ESPN analyst and former U.S. national team midfielder John Harkes. We talked about his experience at the World Cup this summer and the investments that ESPN has made in broadcasting soccer over the past year.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Time: 8:25 p.m. EDT
Venue: PPL Park, Chester, Pa.
TV: ESPN2 (Adrian Healey, John Harkes and Julie Foudy in the stadium; Max Bretos, Alexi Lalas and Juan Pablo Ángel in the Bristol studio) and Galavision (Jorge Otatti and Fernando Clavijo); both broadcasts start at 8:00 p.m.
You can read a transcript of quotes from Bob Bradley's press conference yesterday here.
As Kerith Gabriel noted in this morning's Daily News, only around 7,000 tickets have been sold for tonight's game. Short of a ridiculously large walk-up crowd, there's nothing that can be done now to avoid there being a lot of empty seats when the TV cameras cast their gaze upon PPL Park.
We've already discussed the reasons for the low sales number on here: the expensive ticket prices, the relatively late kickoff on a school night, the glut of soccer games in the region over the last few weeks, and so on.
Here's another factor to discuss. It was pointed out to me by a friend last night that the U.S. Soccer Federation hasn't done much marketing and promotion of the game. I've since been told by sources that the amount of attention that the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers are currently commanding has been a factor in that, and that the USSF didn't want to waste too many resources if it didn't think there would be a great return on the investment.
With all due respect, I find that a weak argument. None of the three aforementioned teams are playing tonight, and we've known that would be the case for a while. The 76ers have a preseason home game against Boston, but for as small a crowd as will be at PPL Park tonight I suspect there wil be even fewer people at the Wachovia Center.
Obviously, most of the local attention right now is on the Phillies, who played Game 1 of their Division Series on the same night the U.S. women played at PPL Park. But we've known for a few weeks now that the Phillies' schedule had them off tonight no matter how the series played out. So it's been clear for a while that there would be a window for attention, even if it is a small one.
I would like to think that any national team game is an important occasion. Even if the U.S. Soccer Federation itself doesn't make all of its international matches seem like big deals, they are nonetheless are pretty rare compared to the rest of our sports landscape.
Speaking of windows, it should be noted that the U.S. game will be the only live sporting event broadcast on any of the Worldwide Leader's channels tonight. The main network has a 30 for 30 movie and the World Series of Poker, while ESPNU has college football analysis and ESPN Classic has a college basketball replay from last season.
Okay, that's enough ranting from me. It's not my job to be a cheerleader for the U.S. Soccer Federation or any of its teams, but I do feel that the lack of ticket sales for this game is a subject that needs to be discussed.
If you are going tonight, or if you're on the fence, you'll be happy to know that there will be a shuttle service from the Chester Transportation Center as there has been for Union games throughout the year. You'll find the train schedule at the bottom of the post.
Whether you'll be at PPL Park or not, I hope you'll join my live chat tonight. If you're on a mobile device, you can follow along and share your thoughts here. It would be great to hear from fans in the stands during the game.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley spoke with reporters at PPL Park yesterday, ahead of the game against Colombia tonight. Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News sent along some quotes that didn't make it into his story in today's paper.
On the national team's return to Philadelphia:
We are excited to be back in Philadelphia. As most of you know, we played our [World Cup] send-off game here, and that was a great event. Now we are back with Philadelphia, one of the cities that is a part of the [2018 or 2022 World Cup] bid. And for the national team, our first opportunity to play in PPL Park [comes] in the shadows of that. In all those ways, we are excited to be here.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
After playing two games against China in five days, the U.S. women's national team got a night off on Thursday. They spent it at PPL Park watching the Union game, and that gave me a chance to chat wth coach Pia Sundhage and a few players during halftime.
Sundhage's team got a 2-1 win in the first game, this past Saturday in Kennesaw, Ga.; and a 1-1 draw Tuesday at PPL Park. Though the latter result was a surprise, Sundhage nonetheless came away pleased with what she saw overall.
"Overall, we got two good games, and we've got things to work on, which is good," Sundhage said. "I was good to have two games, because we tried a couple of players and we got some of the new players a little more playing time. And at the same time, we wanted the core of the team to play more minutes together."
China didn't qualify for next summer's World Cup in Germany, which you might not have expected given the nation's strong history in the women's game. But even though China has slipped a bit in recent years, Sundhage said the team should not be taken lightly.
"The team we played against [Tuesday] is a totally different team" from the one that didn't qualify for the World Cup, Sundhage said. "They got a new coach and they got some new players, and I really liked the way they played, because they have improved their game with different players."
The U.S. team has also undergone changes recently as it works to reclaim the World Cup. One of the new players in the fold is Independence forward Amy Rodriguez, who's had a whirlwind last few weeks with the WPS playoffs and national team duty.
"It's been hard to just sit back and relax and finally take a breath," Rodriguez said. "It's been go-go-go for me, and I've enjoyed it. I really have - I would rather have so many soccer things coming my way right now, rather than just sitting at home watching soccer on TV."
Even though Rodriguez has enjoyed being busy, that doesn't mean it's been easy to deal with everything. Perhaps the biggest challenge was the Independence's three-day turnaround from their WPS playoff semifinal in Boston to the championship game in the Bay Area.
"It was really tough, I'm not going to lie," Rodriguez said. "We really did mentally try to mentally prepare ourselves for it, and we did the best we could, but I think physically we weren't as sharp as we could have been."
The Independence weren't just challenged by the travel, of course. There was the burden of having played two straight overtime games, and to top it all off, they had to face Brazilian superstar Marta on her home turf.
For as great a season as Rodriguez as had, even she had to admit that Marta is the best player in the world right now.
"I'm glad I'm not a defender and I don't have to go against her very much," Rodriguez said with a wry smile. "Just watching her play is exciting, and she's one of those players that you don't want to play against. You always want her on your team."
Rodriguez should have an easier time of things in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament that will take place at the end of this month in Mexico. The U.S. will face Haiti, Guatemala and Costa Rica in group play. Mexico and Canada are in the other group, so the U.S. won't have to worry about them until the semifinals.
The top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals, and the two finalists will qualify automatically for the World Cup. The third-place team will play a playoff against the fifth-place team from Europe for a place in the 16-team tournament.
The U.S. should win its group easily. Canada is a better team than Mexico, but Mexico is improving and will be playing on home soil. If Canada is able to avoid the upset and win the other group, the U.S. should have smooth sailing with a semifinal match against Mexico. A U.S.-Canada semifinal would have quite a bit of pressure in it for both teams.
Rodriguez's goalscoring skills are one of the reasons why the U.S. has been playing so well lately. Another is Rodriguez's partner up top, Abby Wambach. The 5-foot-11 veteran remains one of the most effective strikers in the sport, and has flourished under Sundhage's watch.
Although Sundhage has been at the helm since the fall of 2007, memories still remain of the U.S. team's struggles under her predecessor, Greg Ryan. Sundhage's team plays a much more attractive brand of soccer, and that has not been lost on Wambach.
"Pia just brings a different dynamic than most American coaches can coach," Wambach said. "She wants it to be a beautiful game and it's been a privilege to play under her."
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Venue: PPL Park, Chester, Pa.
Television: ESPN2 (J.P. Dellacamera and John Harkes)
Injury Report
Los Angeles Galaxy
Questionable: D Gregg Berhalter (neck strain), D Leonardo (left quad strain), M Dema Kovalenko (right adductor strain)
Philadephia Union
Probable: GK Brad Knighton (left shoulder strain), D Juan Diego González (left groin strain); M Eduardo Coudet (right calf strain); F Danny Mwanga (left shoulder sprain)
Before we get to tonight's game, a bit of news. In case you didn't see it because of the Phillies game, the Washington Post's Steven Goff reported last night that only around 6,000 tickets have been sold for next week's U.S.-Colombia game.
I know I'm supposed to be objective about these things, but that number is not good.
Goff cited a number of plausible reasons why sales have been so sluggish. Among the most prominent are high ticket prices for the game, and the attention being paid to the Phillies and the region's other sports teams at the moment.
I can certainly sympathize with those who have complained about the ticket prices. This has been a recurring point of annoyance with many U.S. national team fans in recent months, going back to the U.S.-Brazil game at the Meadowlands after the World Cup.
I can also understand the point about how crowded our local sports landscape is at the moment. I am willing to excuse the poor attention at last night's U.S. women's game, because the entire region is transfixed by the Phillies right now. Even I have been caught up in it, as I hosted our live Phillies chat last night instead of going to the soccer game.
But the Phillies aren't playing next Tuesday. Nor are the Flyers. So the U.S. game will have a relatively high proportion of local sports fans' attention, as it will be the major live action in town that night.
I'm sure a number of you are going to the game. If you aren't, feel free to explain why in the comments. And if you're on the fence, give it some thought. I know the ticket prices are steep, and I know that as someone who gets in for free with a press pass I have no right whatsoever to tell people how to spend their money.
But the best argument Philadelphia can make to get the U.S. national teams here on a regular basis is to keep bringing big crowds to games. No city, no matter how many soccer fans it has, has any kind of right to host national team games. The U.S. Soccer Federation will only go to places where it thinks it can make a profit.
With that out of the way, I hope you'll join me for a live chat during tonight's Union game. It should be quite a spectacle with David Beckham and Landon Donovan in town. If you're on a mobile device, you can join the chat by clicking here. It would be great to have some interaction from fans in the stadium tonight.
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
