UPDATE: Donovan to stay put

After nearly a month of speculation regarding his winter loan destination, Landon Donovan has ultimately decided to simply rest his weary bones and come into the 2011 MLS season with fresh legs.

The newly-crowned USSF Male Athlete of the Year, who was courted by Everton, Newcastle, and Fulham for three-month loans come the January 1 transfer window, has had virtually no rest since early 2009.  After going the distance that year between LA Galaxy reaching the MLS Cup and the USA national team's Confederations Cup run, Donovan had about a month to breath before a 10-week loan spell in England with Everton, a move that proved to increase his stock tremendously with his performance and popularity.  From there, he jumped right into the 2010 MLS season with LA, and while the league took time off for the World Cup in June, Donovan was busy saving American soccer.  Since LA's 2010 season ended, he's been resting and pondering another loan.

Apparently for Landon, it was either Everton or nothing.  He had way too much fun there to think about going anywhere else.  But, being the constantly selfless American that he is, he's putting LA Galaxy and USMNT first, and that is why he's the best.  Thank you sir, for putting the flag above all, including increased European fame.

Gold Cup venues announced, New England gets shaft?

I don't even know if Gillette Stadium was even in the running to host a Gold Cup match this summer, but it doesn't matter--they're not going to.

The venues were announced today, and for the first time since the tournament switched to odd-numbered years, New England will not see a Gold Cup match (2002 was the last time, and the USMNT has played in Foxborough every tournament since).

First Round
June 5 – Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, TX)
June 6 – The Home Depot Center (Carson, CA)
June 7 – Ford Field (Detroit)
June 9 – Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte)
June 10 – FIU Stadium (Miami)
June 11 – Raymond James Stadium (Tampa)
June 12 – Soldier Field (Chicago)
June 13 – Red Bull Arena (Harrison, NJ)
June 14 – KC Soccer Stadium (Kansas City, KS)
Quarterfinals
June 18 – New Meadowlands Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ)
June 19 – Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (Washington, DC)
Semifinals
June 22 – Reliant Stadium (Houston)
Final
June 25 – Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)

Another tournament oddity is that the Yanks have been "drawn" in Group B in five out of the last six editions (the US, Canada, and Mexico automatically qualify for the tournament).  So, if history repeats*, the USA group stage games will be in LA, Miami, and New Jersey (small road trip for Nutmeggers).

As pissed as I am about the absence of the Gold Cup in New England this summer, I'm pleased about the selection of venues overall.  They didn't stick exclusively to MLS markets.  Tampa, Charlotte, and Detroit all have lower-division clubs and the potential for growth that can only be aided by the arrival meaningful international games.  Kansas City, who will be among those hosting for the first time, is being further rewarded for their excellent fan-base and new stadium.

Miami, however, is a joke of a sports city and doesn't deserve the consideration they've gotten for a soccer franchise of any kind.  They couldn't keep their first MLS franchise, and not even Lebron James can initiate a guaranteed sellout in that fruitcake resort town.  FIU Stadium is not good enough for the cleats of the same squad that probably has more international appeal than Lebron himself right now.  Yeah, I went there.

The Gold Cup field won't even be complete until next month (Central American qualifying), and the draw isn't for awhile, but I'm excited.  It's about time the Yanks played some meaningful games.

*...and the group stage schedule is played in order (Groups A, B, C, alternating days)

BBC awards Clint Dempsey for Europa wundergoal

The stock of arguably the most popular American athlete in the UK has risen once again.

Fulham and USMNT favorite Clint Dempsey received BBC London's 2010 Sporting Moment of the Year award.  Like, I guess if the ESPYs were on the radio, that would be the equivalent.

The award is for an unbelievable chip-shot goal at home against Juventus in the Round of 16 of last year's Europa League.  Fulham had a 3-1 lead in the 82nd minute (4-4 on aggregate from being flattened in the away leg) when the genius move by Clint put the Cottagers through.  Fulham eventually went on to the tournament final.

Dempsey has become something of a cult figure at The Cottage, and the award further proves why Fulham should try to hang on to him, even despite John Henry's money.  Although I wouldn't hate if one of the most talented Yanks went to ply his trade with a so-called "European power" (I resent Liverpool's reputation purely for recent statistical reasons, but they still remain a large step up from Fulham).

Check out Dempsey's floater here.

Also, USMNT leading scorer and only remaining domestic-based American superstar Landon Donovan has been courted by Everton, Fulham and Newcastle for a winter loan spell.  Donovan spent ten weeks at Everton last off-season where he was met with open arms and immediate success.

I'm actually surprised there haven't been more potential suitors for the runaway USSF Player of the Year nominee.  Despite the fact that his club isn't an international superpower, it can't be questioned that he's as good as anyone on the field right now.  LA Galaxy and MLS will be asking for a ton of cash for the loan, but I find it a bit odd that no more clubs have been willing to empty their pockets for an available superstar as the highest European leagues approach midseason.  The transfer window opens January 1.  Expect an update on our boy, in between my Fiesta Bowl pints.

USA robbed of World Cup 2022

You'd think they won it already.

The State of Qatar, a small Arab country the size of Connecticut but with half the population, with plans to host the world's largest sporting event within a 40-mile radius in 120-degree summer heat, handily beat out the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Australia to host the '22 World Cup, by what turned out to be a landslide.

It took them until the final round of voting to obtain an absolute majority over the US, but they pulled it off.  The 22 ExComm members decided to risk it for the sake of international growth, Middle Eastern exposure, what have you.  Qatar kicked everyone's ass in all rounds of voting.  We didn't stand a chance.

I'm not sure it's right (yet) to question the cleanliness and legality of what happens behind closed doors before the voting.  Nigeria and Tahiti both saw important executives banned from the sport a few weeks ago over voting bribes, and the BBC has told us this week that this is not a new phenomenon.  However, I would love to learn in the coming days the reasons why the Qatari walked away with the bid so easily.

I assumed Japan and Korea wouldn't get it, seeing as there would have been a mere 20-year gap between tournaments in either nation.  Australia, while the sport has grown wildly since their new league started five years ago and boasting a dangerously talented national team, probably couldn't show the money, infrastructure, or support required to beat out some heavy hitters.

Voting-wise, it was the US vs. four Asian federations.  Of the 22 ExComm members who haven't been denounced as human beings, three come from CONCACAF, four from the AFC.  The US and Qatar were both represented.  The other 15 bodies have no genuine interest, because their nations or confederations aren't competing for the bid. At least ten of the 22 voted for Qatar in all four rounds.  Blows my fucking mind.  I'm missing something.

Desecration of the trophy.

I understand that the tiny little shit of a country has a ton of money.  Financially, they will have zero problem paying for what they need to pull this thing off 12 years from now.  I just don't know if it's physically possible.  They have little room to work with, and plan to play in 12 different stadiums (seven of which don't exist yet, the rest need to be renovated).  I can't imagine the event actually fitting there.  Drinking alcohol outside of closed doors is nationally forbidden (although they promise reserved spaces to do so).  They have a typical Arab stance on women (which obviously is a matter of religion and such, but can you imagine Burqas being ripped off in the midst of a mob of wasted Dutchmen?).  And their national team?  Currently ranked 113th in the world, 16th in Asia (a confederation recently given just 4 1/2 spots to the World Cup).  And you thought North Korea was bad.

It's a shame.  The growth potential in the US is definitely the largest.  We have the money and the political backing.  When you think about the unbelievable things it could do for the state of the sport here, it's pure torture to lose out on that chance.  It's different now then it was in 1994.  The pros of winning the bid would far outweigh those that came to fruition 16 years ago.

And now we sit, hoping for another shot at the best thing that could happen to American soccer, short of winning it all.

Congrats to the Russians for bagging 2018.  I thought Spain/Portugal had it for sure, but today's been full of surprises, I guess.

I'm off to Bertucci's to drown my sorrows.

CONCACAF Gold Cup

After surviving the final group stage and reaching the semifinals of the Caribbean Championship--Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica, and non-FIFA Guadeloupe will all be joining the Yanks in next summer's Gold Cup.  However, Cuba failed to field a team last year, so if it happens again, Trinidad might have a shot at escaping their current embarrassment.

SIGN IT.

L to R: USSF President Sunil Gulati,
USMNT Captain Carlos Bocanegra,
FIFA President Sepp Blatter

Instead of pontificating theory for days the reasons why the US should receive the privilege to host the 2022 World Cup, I'm going to wait until Thursday's big announcement, and either rejoice or bitch and moan for you based on the outcome.

In the meantime, click here.  The competing nations (England, Spain/Portugal, Russia, Belgium/Netherlands for 2018; Qatar, Australia, South Korea, Japan, USA for 2022) give their final presentations Wednesday.  Then, 22 presumably clean Executive Committee members will vote for the most viable hosts.  When it comes down to 2022, seeing the million-plus Americans on the petition can't hurt our chances.  And I shouldn't have to sit here and explain to you the magnitude and importance of a US-hosted Cup.  So please, it takes just seconds to do.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup

There's nothing else to look forward to, really.  I love the tournament, personally.  So I had to look twice when I saw that Trinidad & Tobago had been eliminated from the Caribbean Championship today, completely excluding the nation from this summer's Gold Cup.  The Soca Warriors are ranked 6th in the confederation, were the only Caribbean squad to make the final round of 2010 WC qualifying, and aren't too far-removed from their 2006 appearance in Germany.  They are now left with nothing until 2014 qualifying starts up.

I'll be paying close attention to this competition--the top 4 go to the 2011 Gold Cup, which ultimately leads to the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

Fingers crossed for Thursday, kids.

The MLS Playoffs: worse than having a franchise in Miami.

Hate this.

Let me preface this with the fact that I do not hate the MLS playoffs as a concept.  I love it actually.  Americans love playoffs, and fans view making the playoffs as a great achievement.  If it's going to help the league, then keep it.  These clowns who call themselves "traditionalists" don't realize how badly eliminating the playoffs would ravage the league.

I do, in fact, hate how the playoffs are set up.  Especially in the wake of the commissioner announcing the allowance of two more teams into the playoff format next season.  It's salt in the wound left from a mid-table team like Colorado going on a convenient winning streak and hoisting the Cup thanks to an own goal.

Look at it this way.  The MLS Cup champion should, in an ideal world, be the best team in the league.  Great, I understand that's not entirely possible on a year-to-year basis.  And that wouldn't even be that fun.  That's why the Supporters' Shield is so great and Garber's plans to reward the winners more are even greater.

The amount of teams in the playoffs is one thing.  Eight is whatever, ten is dreadfully ridiculous.  As much as I love and respect Kansas City and Chicago as franchises, they sure as fuck didn't deserve to compete for the league's most coveted trophy.  However--what's worse is how unfairly the format is set up, in regards to the fact that higher-seeded teams are not nearly as rewarded for their efforts as they should be.

This two-legged round thing obviously isn't working.  Having the latter game at home is NOT home-field advantage.  Two-legged rounds work wonderfully for randomly drawn knockout rounds, not for a seeded tournament.

Those arguing over the conference crossover rule need to listen.  As long as a two-table (East and West) setup coexists with a balanced regular season schedule, the rule needs to be there.  It's the only thing preventing things like Kansas City being this season's three-seed in the East.  Now, if the schedule was unbalanced (more games for intra-conference match-ups), this would eliminate the need for the confusing playoff situation.  However, balanced schedules make for the statistically fairest competition.  Unbalanced schedules cause numbers to be misleading because teams are playing vastly different schedules, especially the way it is now with the Western Conference performing significantly better than its counterpart this season.  I know it's confusing.  It's even more confusing because of the single-elimination format.

A Solution

Forget about a knockout format with questionable home-field advantages.  Eight teams.  Crossover rule if the schedule is balanced, top four in each conference if its unbalanced.  Two single round-robin groups of four.  Higher seed in all round-robin match-ups play at home.  For example, this season, New York and LA would have played three home games,  San Jose and Seattle would have played all three on the road.  Winners of the two groups play in the neutral-site MLS Cup.  Or, I wouldn't mind the top two playing a one-off match to reach the Cup. Everyone pretty much plays the same amount of games as before (three or four before the Cup).  I never said the MLS Cup should be the top teams every year.  I just can't stand seeing teams like Colorado winning it.  I know they're fun to watch with Casey and Cummings up top, but the team didn't put up enough numbers over a long season to justify it happening.

CONCACAF Champions League

I'm absolutely ecstatic that MLS has taken this tournament more seriously.  It's a phenomenal concept, and it's as legitimate and relevant than it's ever been.  I highly recommend you sign up for CONCACAF TV, where you get most of the Champions League games for free, streamed live online.  And CONCACAF, I'll see you in court.

This all said, the USSF has been allotted four spots into the Champions league every year.  They choose to give the spots to the Supporters' Shield winner, the two MLS Cup finalists, and the U.S. Open Cup champion.  This became a huge problem this year, because now the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas will be representing the league and the federation at next year's tournament.  Real Salt Lake, who finished a point behind LA for the Shield and are in the quarterfinals of this year's tournament, will be conspicuously absent.  The Shield runner-up is the alternate allocation, so if LA or Seattle (USOC champion) had made it to the Cup finals, RSL would be fittingly returning in 2011.  Excuse me, Mr. Garber, but Colorado or Dallas do not deserve to be in the Champions League over Real Salt Lake.  There's no way around it.  And I understand that the messed-up playoff format reared its ugly head last year when RSL won it all as the eighth seed, but they ended up tearing it up this season.  With Colorado's unsure offseason coming up, I don't see that happening next year.

My point is, the playoffs are further trashing the league because of the way the spots are allocated.  Simple solution: let in the teams with the hardware (Shield, Cup, USOC), as well as the Shield runner-up.  RSL busted their collective asses all season (with the Champions League group stage schedule and all), while FC Dallas won three games in a row to earn the spot only to lose one at a neutral site.

RSA 0-1 Yanks

RBNY striker Jose Agudelo, 17, had
the game-winner in S. Africa.

Phenomenal win for the boys today.  Starting a bit shaky (Robbie Findley was terrible once again), the Yanks took what essentially is their C squad (I was a huge proponent of Bradley's young tryout selection, especially for a non-FIFA match) and improved minute by minute.  As a fan, I wasn't really looking for the result so much as the performances of today's newbies.  We got both.

World Cup third-string Brad Guzan was outstanding.  Today's captain handled all of South Africa's eight thousand crosses with ease, and came up with that huge save in the first half on what should have been an offside call.  I'm very encouraged to see him show up like that, especially with his limited minutes at Aston Villa behind Grandpa Friedel.

Eric Lichaj impressed me the most of the backline, merely on presence.  The man isn't afraid to push you around, even with a first-half yellow card.  He's definitely deserving of his increased time at Villa.

Goes without saying that Jose Agudelo is the hero of the day.  His impressive finesse shot in the 85th, under pressure, in the box, at age 17, is definitely a great story.  I just watched him a few weeks ago in the San Jose/RBNY series.  Seeing him on the pitch today was exciting enough, let alone scoring the winning goal in his debut.  Good shit.

I have to say I was most impressed by the debut of Mikkel Diskerud, however short it was.  The kid was fucking EVERYWHERE.  Seconds after paralyzing two South African defenders and setting up the Agudelo goal, he's on the opposite corner of the field pressuring an attacker one-on-one in the open field.  I understand he had a very short time to leave it all out on the field, but it still takes game to do what he did today.

I can't wait to see these guys more often.  I don't see all of them making January camp, but I'd be willing to bet a couple of the above names (Guzan, obviously) will be in LA for the festivities.

Kansas City Wizards rumored to change name

The irrelevance is killing me.

Not a huge fan of rumors, but this one's been going on WAY too long to treat it as such anymore.

KCW is making a "huge announcement" on Wednesday, and the world clearly thinks its a name change (there's a new domain name registered).  This idea started months ago, and the KC brass has not refuted it.  Many say the name may be Sporting Kansas City or Sporting KC (a la Lisbon).

Reading around the message boards has revealed mixed feelings amongst KC supporters.  Many are against a complete rebranding, and feel that such a name change could only hurt them, especially with a new stadium on the horizon.

Others are genuinely for it, citing soccer tradition.

These so-called "traditionalists" don't know shit.  The reason names are the way they are overseas has NOTHING to do with soccer. Absolutely NOTHING.  If you look at basketball, it's the same way in Europe.  Nicknames just aren't a part of their full brand name over there.  It's not right or wrong, it's just how they do it.

Most teams in MLS have "official" nicknames as a result of American tradition.  Baseball, football, basketball, what have you... we like having team names.  Again, just the way it is.

Stating that copying a Portuguese club is going in the right direction is absolute garbage.  Kansas City is a phenomenal soccer town, and the Wizards brand has worked just fine the last 15 years.  If anything, a name such as "Sporting KC" is only going to confuse those who may not know as much about the sport, and therefore hurt marketing.

Sporting Clube de Portgual (Lisbon) is exactly what it looks like.  A sports club.  They have everything from futsal to table tennis to billiards to Formula One racing.

KCW is not a sports club.  It's a soccer club.  So if you're not buying the argument against the name change, at least keep in mind that the name flat out doesn't make sense.

I understand Dallas pulled it off a few years ago, but the team or the league wasn't as popular six years ago.  The Hoops are still the joke of the league attendance-wise, and unlike KC, they have a real stadium.  They might even be proving my point.

I'm hoping there's enough backlash from The Cauldron to reverse it, if in fact it does happen.  If it ain't broke, don't fucking fix it.  Let it move into a beautiful new stadium, improve budding on-field operations, and make a 4-3-3 formation look decent.

UPDATE: Zakuani goes with Congo DR

I can't say I blame him.

Seattle Sounders forward Steve Zakuani has accepted a call-up to the Congo DR national team for their friendly Wednesday against Mali in Paris.  The main reason, apparently, was the long wait (probably three years) for him to achieve full American citizenship.  The Congolese-born Englishman, 22, said weeks ago that his decision had been made, and that he was waiting until after the playoffs to make the announcement.  He had also previously come to the conclusion that a shot at the England starting XI was far from a guarantee; he wanted to solidify playing time.

He could have done that with the Stars and Stripes.  But the young striker has been outstanding the last two years for Seattle, and waiting for citizenship would have been a waste of time and talent.  He can now play meaningful matches at the international level with a Leopards squad that, after failing to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations the last two cycles, is looking to bounce back to the status they achieved having made the final eight in five of the seven previous cycles.  They've gotten off to a slow start in 2012 qualifying, but most recently pulled off an impressive road draw to Cameroon last month.  They will absolutely benefit from the addition of Zakuani.

It sucks--could have been a huge gain for the US, especially with all the questions surrounding the striker position.  But, like I said yesterday, there's plenty of opportunity and time for this issue to be addressed, including from elsewhere.

Immigration, Dual Citizenship, FIFA passport rules may favor USMNT

Fredy Montero could be among those donning a USA kit, despite having other options.

Jesus, it's been awhile.  I just spent the last hour attempting to write this post, and realized I rambled about nothing the entire time.  Journalism professors taught us in college not to do that, and that only the New York Times could get away with it.  Whatever.  I'm an excitable guy.  Let's start over.

The 2010 World Cup left us an unparalleled sense of national pride.  It also left us scratching our collective spray-dyed heads.  How the hell do we look at it?  We embarrassed the English.  We watched Landon Donovan score the most monumental goal in the team's history.  We also watched the Yanks give up early goal after early goal, and we watched them make an exit that was seemingly... well... early.
What it comes down to now is how we'll fill in the holes that players' aging will leave four years from now.  It's always the first question that comes to mind when a team does "well", but doesn't necessarily achieve at its highest potential levels.  Can the Americans keep it up?

Now, the immigration and dual nationality phenomenon exists everywhere in soccer (and in all sports, for that matter).  FIFA has very forgiving rules regarding international eligibility, and most commonly affects those with extremely diverse populations.  It happens most commonly in Western Europe, Australia, and of course, the United States.

Take the almighty Gods that played on the 1994 World Cup team.  Tab Ramos came to the States from Uruguay as a kid, and received citizenship in time for his debut on the US U-20 squad.  Fernando Clavijo came with his wife in his 20s just to play for a club in New York.  These are merely examples, regardless of the legitimacy.

The rumblings of late are, however, just how legitimate some young and flashy talent could prove to be come 2014.  It just depends on whether or not they choose to join us.

Take Steve Zakuani, for instance.  The 22-year-old Seattle striker has been a favorite at Qwest the last two seasons.  He's a Congo DR native, an English national, and is striving to get American citizenship (which could take awhile).  He apparently has already made his decision regarding which national team for which he'd like to play, but he doesn't feel like telling us just yet.  He wants to wait until after the playoffs, in which his team already shit the bed, again.  I'm excited to see where he goes.  As long as it's not England.

Enter Sounders teammate Fredy Montero, a Colombian native with three years of experience with Los Cafeteros and a shiny new green card.  Although he struggled mightily in the waning months of the season, his 2009 Newcomer of the Year Award and his hot start in 2010 is hopefully a sign of things to come for the 23-year-old and a possible future with the Yanks.

The recently-crowned 2010 Newcomer winner is D.C. winger Andy Najar.  He scored 5 goals for an atrocious United club this season, and recently turned down a call-up from the Honduran national team. Oh, and he's 17.  He's a permanent U.S. resident, but not a citizen.  His agent said he's not necessarily waiting for citizenship to play for the Americans, but that the "timing was bad."  His age works to our advantage, because he could play for Honduras until his citizenship is taken care of, when he could then suit up with us, sort of a la Jermaine Jones (whose dual citizenship allowed him to feature for the US after realizing his playing time with the Germans was going to be rather limited).

A few current examples of young talent that have already made the jump stateside for the South Africa friendly on Wednesday:

• Teal Bunbury (Canada), 20.  The Kansas City forward was raised in Minnesota, has dual citizenship, and apparently has a father who was a Canadian superstar--but he accepted Bradley's call for next week for one reason: he wants to play in a World Cup, and God knows that's not happening anytime soon north of the border.
• Mikkel Diskerud (Norway), 20.  Dual citizenship.  He plays in his native homeland for top-tier Stabæk, but after spending some time in the Norwegian youth system, he joined our youth system in 2008, citing that he "always felt American."  He'll be in South Africa next week.
• Aston Villa defender Eric Lichaj (Poland), 21 and Celtic back-up keeper Dominic Cervi (Italy), 24.  Both have international passports, but have accepted calls, essentially tying them in for good.

If you're among those genuinely worried about the future of the USMNT, relax.  I'm not saying these guys are going to lead us to a gold medal; but as along as the United States continues to be somewhat of a land of opportunity, this trend isn't showing any signs of slowing down.  And, the more Major League Soccer grows, the more international talent will come in, equalling more Steve Zakuanis and Andy Najars.  I'd like to have a few of them on my team, four years down the line.

I'm sorry, was I rambling?

Here we go...

I love soccer.  It's an obsession that started with rec leagues as a kid, grew with FIFA 99 for PC, and reached its ultimate peak when the US national team played in my home state this past spring.  Needless to say, that night was a religious experience.

The thing is... you, reader... don't give a shit in the slightest.  I'm probably another random college graduate who lives with his parents and claims to know a thing or two about a sport--one that he loves but sucked horribly at in high school.  He's going to make this flashy blog and post it daily on every social networking site under the sun.  He's simply going to copy and paste articles from actual news sites and provide three sentences of stereotypical and uninteresting "insight" on mindless media banter.

The first part is right, I guess.  But I'm not going to just follow what other sites and blogs are doing... keeping up with every piece of hard news that comes out.  I will, but this blog won't.  I don't even read blogs.  I'm simply going to talk about whatever I feel like.  I care very much about soccer, especially in this country.  It's an exciting time to be an American soccer fan right now, and I have lots to say.  The existence of this blog is in part a result of having few around me that will listen for that long.

I don't know how often I'm going to update this.  I'm shooting for a few times a week, but who knows what this might turn out to be?  I never got into the whole blogging thing, and quite frankly, I'm going to need a bit of help designing this whole thing.

We'll be in touch.

-MK