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U.S. Men's National Soccer (Official Thread)

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One thing, say the team loses in the Azteca by a decent margin of 2-0 or 3-1. It's a hard place to play and USA's history there sucks.

The one thing I hope is that ESPN doesn't try to spin things in favor of USA if they were just plain outplayed.
 
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CHU said:
One thing, say the team loses in the Azteca by a decent margin of 2-0 or 3-1. It's a hard place to play and USA's history there sucks.

The one thing I hope is that ESPN doesn't try to spin things in favor of USA if they were just plain outplayed.
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ESPN is now very much invested into the soccer market.

They are going to have pre-game coverage for US/Mexico- a match that they don't even have TV rights for. They now feature an MLS game or 2 every week. Plus all the coverage of the World Soccer Tour games. They are getting La Liga (Spanish Premier League) and Bundesliga (German) games this upcoming 09-10 season. They lost rights to the Champions League however (Fox Soccer Channel). But they are devoting a TON of coverage to South Africa next summer by sending commentators out there for the whole month and even setting up Sportscenter live from South Africa.

I'm ecstatic from that standpoint. I'm not an ESPN fan, but it is what it is and they are the main sporting news channel in the country. I want soccer to be a success and ESPN will do wonders for developing the game.

Now, as you bring up, ESPN will certainly do their best to portray the Nats in the best way possible. They are a marketing a machine and know what it takes to get people to watch. I don't mind it too much in this instance though. :biggrin:

Alexi Lalas will likely provide most of the analysis following the game. He's a pretty passionate guy, as he's very involved with soccer in the U.S. He can be pretty positive, but he's not afraid to call the team out if they play like piss. The thing with Azteca is that the US might play hard for 40-60 minutes, but then hit a wall. A Mexico goal will send the place into a frenzy. Hopefully the US can handle it, but honestly, it's not likely. Mexico has only lost 1 meaningful (World Cup Qualifier) @ Azteca in the buildings 43 year history (2001, Costa Rica 2-1). It's expected that the US will struggle and I have no problems with ESPN letting casual fans know this. This game isn't a must win for the USA. I'd rather fans not be turned off just because the US lost another "big" game and looked terrible.

That said, if (when :wink2:) the US wins, ESPN needs to hype the win as much as possible. I'm talking 2005 USC type of hype. :)
 
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I'm very much pleasantly surprised at the emergence of Espn's coverage of soccer and US Men's Team. They just did a piece live from the stadium and taped interviews of Howard, Dempsey, and Donovan. I don't see their coverage and new found interest declining any time soon, especially with the WC so near. Now take it further Espn and pony up some big bucks to get these games on your programming. Kinda sucks they do this pre-game hype and the game is on "Dos de Telemundo".
 
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One thing, ESPN was the only network not to send commentators to the Confdederations Cup (Iraq and New Zealand even sent commentators). All ESPN's crew called the games from Bristol, Conn via the television. The same thing happened for last summer's Euro except Andy Gray was on the call for some games.

So United States was the only one out of eight teams not to send commentators (for the Confed).

Maybe if American soccer fans are lucky, ESPN can reward viewers with a baseball guy like Dave O'Brien for next summer's tournament and that baseball guy (who knows nothing about soccer) can proceed to tell us Oliver Kahn won the "Golden Boot" again.

This isn't going to change because it's a part of the landscape of the channels (ESPN/ESPN2), but if I'm watching something that comes along every four years, I don't care who's the starting pitcher in a mid-week game between the Rockies and the Nationals. But that's not going to change on ESPN/ESPN2.

Oh yeah, Mexico 1-0 unless Howard does what he sometimes does for the Toffees and saves everything :biggrin:
 
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US Soccer team doctor is saying "6-12 months, but Davie's physical strength and acumen may help in the recovery." Broken Tibia, Femur, elbow, and a bladder laceration. Eek. Femur/Tibia area is very dangerous area. I've read the bladder laceration is a common car-accident injury attributed to wearing a seatbelt (thank goodness). WC 2010 is definitely on the back-burner. A healthy recovery for CD is primary.

Can't go without sending condolences to the family of Ashley Roberta. RIP.

Just saddening news...
 
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The Nats are playing in Slovakia in a friendly. Down 1-0 at the half off a penalty kick.

Conor Casey sucks. If he makes the 23 for S.A. I may move to Canada.

On FSC for anyone looking to avoid College Gameday.
 
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Bocanegra's garbage too. He's a Jeff Agoos "moment" waiting to happen...

USA needs Eddie Johnson to be the speed option up top that was left void by Davies' accident. The USA's 4-4-2 with Davies-Altidore pairing up top was a legit World Cup threat, now there's nothing. Jozy can't do it by himself, he just doesn't have the skillset to be the lone striker (not many in the world do). Johnson has to pressure and get behind the D and generally just be a dangerous threat. Not going to happen. He never takes on the D.
 
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1-0 Final.

Meh, still have trouble scoring on European soil. But this was without a ton of players (MLS playoffs).

Next week they take on Denmark. The USSF has done well with scheduling friendlies leading up to the WC. Some great competition.
 
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