Summer Tease

Days like today make me really jealous of people who get a summer vacation. I went out for lunch and for the first time since April I was not met with scorching heat. It is the perfect weather for relaxing at the pool and instead I am sitting indoors banging out 1's and 0's on my keyboard.

I didn't mind as much when it was pouring down raining or when it was 100+ out, but now this nice weather is mocking me. I guess I will have to reserve my pool and water park (my HOA dues hard at work) time for after work and weekends. Then again, it is a holiday 3-day weekend so I just might get to make the most of it.

US Soccer Left Me Hanging

I should have known better…

That is the only thing that ran through my mind after the US was knocked out of the cup by Ghana. I knew this team had some major holes in the defense. I knew they lacked depth. I knew Bob Bradley didn’t know how to pick a solid Starting XI and stick with it. I knew all that, but I started to believe this team was beginning to put together something special with the ways they kept fighting back into games. Then Ghana scored in the 6th minute and I took off my happy goggles from the Algeria game. I knew that there was no way they would be able to fight back and play games with Lady Luck one more time.  So now I am left to wonder how  team squandered a perfect opportunity to earn some more respect on the world stage.

The next World Cup will be in 2014 and I have no idea how the team will look then. All I know is that we need an infusion of young talent ASAP.  The current core will be too old in 2014. Even Donovan and Dempsey will be at the end of their effective careers ( a la Wynalda, Balboa, Ramos, and the rest of the ‘94 guys in ‘98) and cannot be counted on to carry the team. I can only hope that guys like Adu and Torres will find a way to take their game to the next level because we will need the strong technical players to help us take the next step.

World Cup Fever!!!

I have been eating, breathing, and living soccer the past week.  I absolutely go nuts when the World Cup comes around every four years. At no other time can you watch 64 world class (mostly world class anyway) matches in a month. I am just loving seeing all the different teams around the world trying to match up against the different styles of play. It also doesn't hurt that USA is having a decent showing so far.  We are nowhere near being world beaters at this point, but considering just 20 years ago we made our first appearance at the World Cup in 40 years with a team of college players I think we are at a good spot.  USA is at a point where they can be competitive in any match they play. Anyway, that is a post for another time. Here are a few of my highlights from the games I have seen so far.

• South Africa scoring the first goal of the World Cup on a rip to the upper 90.
• Mexico getting its own Dos a Cero on the French.
• USA fighting back from being down 2-0 at the half against Slovenia.
• Brazil beating North Korea with two typical Brazilian goals.
• Japan beating Cameroon with a goal by Honda. You couldn't make that one up.

The cup is halfway through the second round of group games so more excitement is to come. I can't wait to see what will happen next.