ClusterChuck's Political Football Blog

Continuing...

2009-10-16T17:10:00.001-06:00

Still on hiatus, in case anyone was wondering.

Hiatus

2006-04-13T12:12:00.000-06:00

I am on a hiatus from posting to this blog. Things at my home and at my job are now preventing me from doing this blog how I want to do it.

I want to thank my reader(s), especially the one(s) who saw fit to leave a comment here or there.

In the meantime, may I humbly invite you to the World Cup Blog? They've got things thoroughly covered over there. Each of the 32 teams has it's own separate blog. You can find me at the USA Team Blog, posting in the comments, or occassionally guest-blogging for Daryl.

Cheers!

USA vs. Germany

2006-03-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Post Game -- I would like to thank my reader(s) for checking out my account of the game.

90' -- Full time. USA 1-4 Germany. I hope Bruce Arena got a good look at certain players.

85' -- USA Goal. Well against the run of play. Kahn and Johnson went simultaneously went for a long thru ball played in by Cherundolo. Looked like neither touched it, and it wound up in the back of the net.

84' -- A replay of the last goal showed that Berhalter, while marking air, had a nice view of Ballack's header.

80' -- For only the second time this game, Oliver Kahn was tested. This time by Cherundolo. Kahn, of course, rose to the task.

79' -- Ballack gets on the score sheet. GOOOOOOOOL. He was right in the middle, and nobody picked him up.

78' -- Ben Olsen is on.

77' -- Pearce in for Gibbs, actually.

76' -- Heath Pearce shown warming up. Let me guess -- Ummm, Berhalter?

75' -- When it rains, it pours. Germany takes a bad pass from Berhalter, and, GOOOOOOL!

73' -- Oliver Neuville, as a sub, hit the upper-90 at the far post.

73' -- Berhalter makes a mistake that leads to a goal. GOOOOOOOL! Dang again. I hope we can pull one back before the end.

69' -- Is Eddie Johnson really very fast, like everyone says? In a foot race, I'd take DeMarcus Beasley. I'd take Landon Donovan. I'd take Steve Cherundolo. I might even take Bobby Convey over him...

67' -- Asamoah subbed out.

66' -- Nice save by Kahn off of an E.Johnson header from a free-kick well won by Convey. That Johnson could beat his man and put a strong header on goal speaks well of him.

64' -- To me, Klein looks like he might be in over his head.

60' -- Asamoah is going to do some damage this summer. Twellman in for Ching.

58' -- Shot of Taylor Twellman warming up...

55' -- Steve Cherundolo is going to be a joy to watch this summer. Not only that, he looks a lot like my brother-in-law.

51' -- Free kick well won, in a dangerous area. Was that Conrad? Convey takes a shot on goal that is really not a challenge for Oliver Kahn.

49' -- Cherundolo uses his speed to break up a German breakaway.

46' -- Germany, ever dangerous on set pieces, score. GOOOOOOOL! Dang.

HT -- Ghana cancels Friendly match with Iran. I wonder why. Also, Johnny O'B will most likely be going to play for an MLS club. Yay!

45' -- Halftime. USA 0-0 Germany.

43' -- Convey had a nice break-away -- I thought he was faster than that...

41' -- Berhalter does not seem to be having a good game, passing wise.

37' -- Free kick earned by Convey. Dangerous in-swinger by Cherundolo -- save required by Kahn.

33' -- Wasted free kick by Convey.

28' -- Caution to Zavagnin for a foul. I've seen many others get away with far worse.

24' -- Jimmy Conrad takes an open shot, and hits the outside netting at the near post. Is it me, or does German keeper Oliver Kahn look like Canadian rocker Bryan Adams?

20' -- Hopefully, we have weathered the early emotional storm of the German team.

16' -- Good work Pablo... didn't give up on the ball, won it back with a foul in deep. Also, Klein in for Wolff -- an unapparent injury must have occured.

12' -- Nice opportunity by Germany, set up by Ballack. Him and Asamoah are looking very good together early on. Meanwhile, we can't build any type of an attack.

10' -- Shot by Ching -- I think he spazzed -- looks like a pass would have served him better.

7' -- If we can't get it from the Keeper up to mid-field without losing possession, this is going to be a doubly long game.

6' -- If we can't dislodge the Germans of possession, this is going to be a long game.

3' -- Germany looks agressive, and are making opportunities in the air.

Pre-game... Ching and Wolff are both starting. One of these two will not make the team, and right now I'd say that would be Ching. Only bringing 4 forwards...

Pre-game... a 3-5-2? I always expect a 4-4-2 from a Bruce Arena team. In any event, as I said earlier, the defense is going to be busy.

Another Live Blog

2006-03-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Feel free, reader(s), to check out a much more widely read live-blog by Bob at the World Cup Blog.

The Challenges of LiveBlogging

2006-03-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well, this should be fun. My only possible regret would be if I missed something happening on TV because I was looking at what I was typing...

I cn typ withour iooking, thow.

Vill Ve Vin zee Game?

2006-03-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

Today is the day for the Friendly match in Germany against Germany.

I plan on having my computer fired up during the game. I might type something up here, or I might contribute over at the World Cup Blog, where site proctor Bob has announced that he will attempt to "live-blog" the game.

Germany is putting forth the best team it possibly can, and are looking to save face from the embarrassment at the feet of Italy on the first of this month. I'm not sure if Bruce Arena is looking more for a result, or if he is looking to evaluate certain players without much regard to the final score. The U.S. team is not the strongest it could be. I know Germany has some injuries, too, but since I am not that familiar with the team, there is really no way I can accurately compare the two teams' injuries.

I just know that the U.S. midfield seems to be very weak for this match. I expect our defense to be tested, and that is fine, because they really haven't been tested in any of our other Friendly matches so far this year. Based on who we have lined up for future Friendly matches (Jamaica, Morocco, Latvia, and Venezuala), they probably won't be tested again until June.

Venezuela it is...

2006-03-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, (possibly) in response to my below post, word has it that Team USA has chosen Venezuela to fill the opponent's role in the pentultimate Friendly match (full schedule here).

Venezuela? Is this a mistake from that World Baseball Classic thing going on?

I'm not sure if this game is going to show anyone anything. True, they are from South America, but they are not that good. Out of the 10 CONMEBOL teams, they are easily the 10th, and not very close to the ninth best team.

The next time they qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals will be their first!

At least we get 3 games in a row in May, which will replicate the short amount of time between the World Cup games in June.

Line up the Friendlies

2006-03-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that Team USA will be playing Morocco as one of their three final preparation games in May. I guess more than a rumor, now, it will be the first of three International Friendly matches, and will be played on May 23rd, in Nashville, TN. I've also read that we might be playing Latvia in our final preparation game, on May 28th, in Hartford, CT.

The second game will be on May 26th, in Cleveland, but who will be the opponent?

Who would you like to see play the USA in a Friendly preparation match?

Playin' Hookie

2006-03-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have a request I'd like to pass along to my reader(s).

Help me come up with a viable excuse to get out of work on the afternoon of the 22nd, so that I can watch the Germany vs. USA game.

Thanks in advance...

Ram(stein)ifications

2006-03-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

I would like to ask my reader(s) about any ramifications they see coming out of the Poland victory.

Did we get the can't-win-in-Europe monkey off our backs? I would say that we haven't satisfactorily demonstrated that. Coach Arena is now 2-7-1 on European soil, with both wins coming against Poland. Poland is a solid team, but I think most would agree that it would not be hard to find at least a dozen European teams that are better than Poland. Evan FIFA agrees. So, unfortunately, I believe there is still more to prove. A decisive win against Germany would be a big step, and with Italy's result against them on March 1st, it certainly seems possible.

Most importantly to me was getting to know the venue where we will later play Italy. Hopefully, a few of the folks stationed at Ramstein Air Base got converted to the beautiful game.

What matters

2006-03-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Bottom Line -- we got results. I would have liked to have seen more control through the midfield, and more build-ups on the offense, but if we are able to manage this same result against a European foe in June, we should be able to go through.

USA 1-0 Poland

2006-03-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hello, again, reader(s). I took some hand-written notes as the game was being played, and below is my transcription of them. Occassionally, and regretfully, I missed out on something important, because I was writing about something that happened in the preceeding minute.

0' - A heated field?!? Neat! I'll leave the discussion of our starting XI to other individuals.

6' - Easy to tell this is much better competition than we've played so far this year. Poland offers less space and tighter marking.

12' - Poland is looking good against the run of play and on counter-attacks. Steve Cherundolo is looking really good. I don't get to see him play much, so maybe this is the way he normally looks.

19' - Poland seems to be playing the long ball. We can't really build anything; we need Claudio and/or Johnny O'B.

24' - ESPN commentator Marcel Balboa echoes: "USA is not controlling the middle -- they need Claudio Reyna." (paraphrasing)

27' - Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley are both having quiet games so far.

32' - In-swingers from the flank into the box, off of set pieces, bring back nightmares of Michael Ballack at WC 2002. Poland just had one of these.

35' - Lots of our 1st touches are horrible, and are getting away from us -- control the ball!

38' - Nice centering pass by Poland... Psshewww...!

40' - Commentators mention that McBride "tweaked" a groin, and that is probably why Twellman got the nod.

42' - Another set-piece in-swinger... this one nabbed by Kasey Keller.

44' - Very nice free kick by Cherundolo!

45' - Did we just witness *negative* injury time? Half-time.

HT - To me, despite the scoreline, it has been a thoroughly enjoyable game. Both teams are fighting to control the middle, neither team is really able to build anything up, and all chances are rather isolated, or against the run of play. That being said, I would definitely say that Poland has had more opportunities, and better quality ones, as well.

HT - ESPN segment focusing on Steve Cherundolo. He looks like my brother-in-law.

HT - Commercial break... What is Eric Cantona doing?

46' - Back to action. Howard in for Keller at keeper, and Bocanegra in for Berhalter on defense.

48' - Goal! Goooooaaaaaaallllll... Clint Dempsey plays the far-post garbage man, and puts one by Poland's subbed-in keeper. I was getting my food out of the microwave, but someone crossed it in, and it looked like the keeper tried to punch it, and Twellman got his head on it and pushed is toward the far post. Dempsey didn't give up on the ball, and beat his defender to forehead-punch it into the back of the net. Did Dempsey just salute the American crowd?

49' - Replay shows he did salute the crowd, along with Eddie Johnson and Taylor Twellman -- tip of my cap to those guys for recognizing the U.S. Military in the crowd.

53' - I just realized a couple of things. First, we are winning against a European team in Europe(!). Second, Team USA has looked good right after halftime in every game I've seen them in so far this year.

55' - Mastroeni in for Zavagnin.

58' - Bocanegra gets a card. I've seen worse, but these German referees have done a fine job today.

67' - Big snow.

71' - Convey on for Beasley. Bease didn't really do anything -- I was looking forward to seeing him light up the left side.

73' - Big, big snow. I hope we don't pack it in -- we've got to keep pressing.

76' - Good point by Marcel -- in the World Cup, you've got to be able to win 1-0. Sometimes the most obvious points wind up being under-stated.

77' - Onyewu is getting a lot of praise for using his upper body, but he makes me nervous with all the clutching and grabbing. Before the game, they showed a little highlight reel of him defending, and he was putting a few guys in a half-nelson. I'm afraid some referees are going to call that at the most inopportune times.

78' - Big, big, big snow. It is announced that the game balls are going to be changed from a white ball to a yellow ball, so that the players can better see it on the snow-covered field.

79' - Wolff in for Johnson. Johnson had a quiet game. I'm not a big Josh Wolff fan, but I'm hoping he can do better.

80' - The yellow ball is now being used.

85' - It's a shame about the weather and the field conditions. I know both teams are playing under the same weather & field conditions, but I was hoping for something closer to optimal conditions. I hope no one gets hurt as a result of the snow.

87' - I agree with the announcers, in that Poland can't build, and is not able to create many chances. The USA looked much better this half.

89' - Klein in for Dempsey. Why?

90' - Again, very little injury time. USA 1-0 Poland. Yay!

As you wish...

2006-03-01T03:12:00.000-07:00

Continuing the train of thought for my reader(s), I have taken all the qualified teams, and placed them in groups according to their FIFA rankings (latest as of February). Below are the teams, with their "seed" in parenthesis, and reading across should provide you with the 8 groups. Teams such as Turkey, who are ranked in FIFA's top 32 teams, but didn't qualify for the World Cup Finals, are omitted, and the teams below them are moved up a spot.

Group A: BRA (1), TUN (16), CRO (17), ANG (32)
Group B: CZE (2), IRN (15), CRC (18), TOG (31)
Group C: NED (3), GER (14), POL (19), TRI (30)
Group D: ARG (4), JPN (13), KOR (20), AUS (29)
Group E: FRA (5), SWE (12), CIV (21), GHA (28)
Group F: ESP (6), ITA (11), PAR (22), SCG (27)
Group G: MEX (7), POR (10), KSA (23), UKR (26)
Group H: USA (8), ENG (9), SUI (24), ECU (25)

Wow. To me, this looks pretty balanced. Three European teams in C and F. None in Group D. Two African teams each in A & E. Group of Death looks to be in E.

If my reader(s) would like to provide comments, I'd be interested in reading them.

Grouping according to FIFA rankings

2006-03-01T02:37:00.000-07:00

Back in December, amid much pomp and circumstance, FIFA put a show on to determine the groups for this summer's World Cup. In my opinion, it was a rather convoluted process, with pools and pots and seeds, and even a special "group" of teams that only had one team in it.

The goal was to try and achieve a regional balance to the groups. That means that no more than two European teams would be in any one group. The cynic in me believes that FIFA President Sepp Blatter, from Switzerland, and the FIFA Organization, based in Europe, decided to spread out the European teams so that there's a better chance to see more European teams in the knock-out stages. If you put 3 or 4 European teams in one group, then of course you can write off one or two of those teams right off the bat, because only 2 teams from each group will move on to the single-elimination, 16-team second-round knock-out phase.

Of course, as a CONCACAF fan, I wouldn't really like to see the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Trinidad & Tobago placed in the same group, even though it would afford us an excellent chance to go through.

I wonder what the groups would look like if they were straight seeded according to the FIFA rankings...

The Bad News: No Kazakhstan to Pad our Totals

2006-03-01T02:25:00.000-07:00

The United States Men's National Team is 1-7-1 under Bruce Arena on European soil.

The United States Olympic Hockey Team went 1-4-1 in the 2006 Olympics, in Turin, Italy. That's right, I said Turin. If you go around saying "Torino," then, to be consistant, you also need to always call the national capital, "Roma," and you also need to call the country, "Italia."

Anyways, our lone win in hockey came against the largest land-locked nation on the face of the planet. Whoop-de-dam-doo.

Coach Arena's lone win on European soil came against Poland. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

Needless to say, if we can't beat European teams in Europe, we'll never advance out of our group stage. Because just about every single group has at least two European teams in it, and since some country in Europe will be hosting the World Cup every 8 to 12 years...

Maybe we can lobby for Kazakhstan to be allowed into the European union.

I'm so excited...

2006-02-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

...and I just can't hide it.

About 15 hours from now, Team USA will take the field in Germany to play against Poland. The United States section of the World Cup Blog linked me to an interesting article over at ESPN. I learned that this match against Poland is probably the only time that Bruce Arena will have access to the full compliment of players. March 1st is the last FIFA-sanctioned playing date prior to the World Cup.

As I'm sure my reader(s) can recall, I've briefly covered part about FIFA mandating certain periods of time that club teams *must* release players to play with their national teams. What I didn't know was that March 1st was the last such date. Woah. That's a little disappointing to me, as a fan of the United States Men's National Team, but I suppose it *is* the club teams that pay the bills. Fortunately, our domestic league, MLS, is in the off-season, so those players don't really have many club team obligations. If the MLS one day gets close to the quality of the domestic leagues of Italy, Spain, Germany, and/or England, this looks to be a huge advantage for the U.S. team. So, dear reader(s), tell your grandkid(s) that you read it here first.

Where we are in 2006

2006-02-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

So, to continue bring my reader(s) up to date on the United States Men's National Team, as they prepare for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, I will summarize the preparations thus far.

January 22nd: USA 0-0 Canada. I don't have much to say about this game. It wasn't on TV, so I didn't see it. I thought this was a very disappointing score line. Even at the beginnning of our preparations, I would have thought that we could score against Canada. Freddie Adu made his first international appearance, and became the youngest U.S. player to do so, at 16 years, 234 days. He came in during the 81st minute of a 90-minute game for an injured Eddie Johnson, and became the youngest American player to receive a yellow card for diving (16 years, 234 days). He was released from the training camp within the next two weeks.

January 29th: USA 5-0 Norway. This seems like a great result. It is the largest margin of victory the U.S. Men have ever had over a European opponent, and one of our forwards, Taylor Twellman, tallied the 9th ever hat trick for a U.S. player. Norway nearly qualified for the World Cup, having lost a two-game play-off with the Czech Republic just 6 weeks earlier. The U.S. plays the Czechs in their first game at the World Cup, so I initially thought this was an outstanding result. However, I did some research, and we played a totally different Norway team than the Czechs beat last December. Only one starter and one reserve from December's roster made the trip to California, and the rest of the team consisted primarily of younger, Under-23 players. So, concerning the present, there is not a whole lot you can take from this, but 25 or 30 years ago, it would not be at all surprising for an U-23 team such as this to beat our best team.

February 10th: USA 3-2 Japan. This was the home game I was waiting for! Japan was one of the final 16 teams last year, and I felt this team would offer us the best competion. The Japanese only brought over their domestic players, and their Brazilian coach, Zico, seemed to use this as an excuse, saying, "The biggest problem is we can't form our best team. Most of our players in Europe are not here right now." Well, Zico, we can make the same claim... Team USA consisted entirely of MLS players, save for the aforementioned Heath Pearce, who was a 90th minute sub in this game. Our team pretty much dominated for the first 65 minutes, and Taylor Twellman again figured prominently in the score line with two assists and a goal. He might be off the bubble with this performance. Japan pulled two goals back in the end, but U.S. Coach Bruce Arena was unconcerned, attributing the final score line to the many second half substitutes both teams used. In World Cup play, each team can only substitute 3 players, but in friendlies such as these, both teams usually agree to allow more. I didn't like the late goals, but if Coach Arena is unconcerned about them, I suppose I shouldn't be either.

Feburary 19th: USA 4-0 Guatemala. We beat this team pretty thoroughly. Guatemala is an opponent we know well, and most people thought they had a good chance of making the World Cup this year, because the CONCACAF region was alotted "three and a half" spots. The game was played at below freezing temperatures, with freezing rain falling, yet I don't think anyone expected a drastically different result. This game marked the debut of Team USA's new away jerseys, which look like throw-backs to about 10 years ago. I was looking forward to seeing the home whites, which pay homage to the historic 1950 World Cup team, who upset a powerful England team, 1-0.

Today, the U.S. team has arrived in Germany for their game against Poland, scheduled for March 1st, at 2:00 PM EST. I have arranged to be off of work so that I can watch the game on ESPN. We'll be recalling a number of our European-based players, so it's going to be a good one to watch. This game will be played in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and will take place in the same venue as Team USA's second World Cup game (against Italy). I think that it is really neat that we'll get to play a good team like Poland in the same stadium as we'll eventually play Italy. Kaiserslautern is home to tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed overseas, so I hope the crowd comes out and supports the team.

In addition to our game against Poland, there are several other interesting match-ups that are scheduled to occur. Italy, Germany, and Argentina are three of the top seeds that will be seeing action this day.

Future games on the U.S. preparation schedule include another game in Germany, on March 22nd, against the German team, as well as a home game back in Cary, N.C., against Jamaica, on April 11th. We've also announced that we intend to play three other games in May, but the dates, locations, and opponents have not yet been determined.

Explanation Continuation

2006-02-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

Again, I want to get casual fans and would-be fans caught up to the United States Men's National Team, as they ready themselves for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, to take place this summer in Germany...

On January 4th, 2006, Coach Bruce Arena summoned 3o players to a training camp to prepare for the World Cup Finals. All but one of them were from our own domestic league, known as MLS (Major League Soccer). The one who wasn't from MLS plays in the Danish Super League. His team was on an extended winter break, and that allowed him to participate in Arena's camp.

Many of our best players play in Europe, and most European teams cannot (or will not) release their players to play for their national teams. Under FIFA rules, the club teams (which represent a city in a national league, like, for example, the New York Mets) are not obligated to release their players for National Team activities. It would kinda be like if U.S. Olympic team coach wanted to pull all the NHL players from their teams to have an American Olympic Team practice session. Well, most (if not all) NHL GMs would say, "stuff it," (or worse) to the National Team coach.

In the soccer world, FIFA has stepped in, and mandated dates and windows where club teams *must* release their players to their National Team coaches. I believe the next such date is the 1st of March. But until then, players need to play for their clubs. Club play is very important in Europe. Let me try to give an example why:

Everyone in America can understand why teams at the top strive to perform their best. If your team makes the playoffs (in any given sport), you have the possibility of winning out, and being crowned the champion for that season. According to Win-Loss records, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the worst team to make the NFL playoffs last season. Out of the six teams that made the playoffs for the American Football Conference, they were the worst. The sixth-seeded Steelers, however, went on a 4-game playoff winning streak, culminating in a Superbowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks, to be crowned "world" champions of the National Football League.

But, what about teams at the bottom of the standings? The European soccer leagues have an excellent way of handling that. Let me compare one of the best soccer leagues in the world, located in Italy, to Major League Baseball in the U.S. Serie A (pronounced Seree Ahh) is one of the top domestic soccer leagues in the world. Only England, Germany, and Spain, have a top to bottom league that can compare to Italy's. If your team is at the bottom of the standings in Serie A, what keeps the team from packing it in at the end of the season?

I'll tell you, in terms of Major League Baseball. The worst four teams in MLB this year were the Kansas City Royals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Colorado Rockies, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Each of these teams lost at least 95 games out of 162, with the Royals losing a whopping 106 games! In America, they get to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again next year (after having the top choice in the draft). Not in Europe, though.

In Italy's Serie A (as well as in every other country's national soccer league), these teams would get "relegated," which means they would be removed from the top league, and placed down in one of the lower leagues. In Italy, it's called "Serie B," and the American baseball equivalent would be AAA. That's right -- if you stink up the season like the Royals, the Pirates, the Rockies, and the D-Rays did, you would find yourself as a triple-A team the following season.

The best triple-A baseball teams would get promoted into the Major Leagues the following season. It really is a great system. If, as a Major League team, you don't fight until the end of the season, you risk losing your MLB status. That means no 1st draft pick, less revenue at your stadiums, and a severe lack of sponsorship from corporate sponsors. What corporate sponsor would pay top dollar for a triple-A team? No company would. Your team would get a reduced sponsorship rate (if any at all) so that the big bucks could go towards a team where you used to be -- the Big Leagues.

So yes, a hypothetical single-A Durham Bulls baseball team, under the European system, could win the A-league one year, and get promoted to double-A the next year. If they were able to win the double-A league the following year, get promoted, and win the triple-A baseball league in the subsequent year, you would have the Durham Bulls in the Major Leagues! Crash would've loved that.

And that is what makes the bottom teams in European leagues continue to fight for wins late in the year. You don't have to rely on tired old clichés, such as, "Oh, they are playing for pride, now!" No, you really have something substantial to lose if you finish at the bottom in Europe.

So, to tie this back into the U.S. preparations for the FIFA 2006 World Cup, we were not able to assemble our best players to train together as a team due to some players having European club team obligations. Other country's teams, however, are at the same disadvantage when it comes to gathering the nation's top players to practice together.

Time to Catch Up

2006-02-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this post is to get everyone on the same page, concerning the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup is a 32-nation soccer tournament that is held every four years. The 2006 rendition will be hosted by Germany, and is scheduled to take place from the 9th of June until the 9th of July. FIFA (pronounced "FEE-fuh") is the world governing body of soccer, and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. FIFA is an abbreviation for Fédération Internationale de Football Association.

Actually, any nation that is able to field a team may participate in the tournament -- what we're going to see this summer are the "Finals." Nations play in a series of continental and/or regional tournaments in order to qualify. Qualifying games for this summer's tournament started in the summer of 2004 for the United States. The South Americans were the first to actually began holding qualifying tournaments for the 2006 World Cup Finals back in September of 2003! Africa and Asia also began in late 2003.

So this summer is the Finals portion of the tournament -- the final 32 countries. The goal is to have the best 32 teams in the world, but every tournament has exceptions. The country of Turkey finished in 3rd place at the last tournament in 2002, however they failed to even make the final 32 teams this year. On the other hand, you usually don't see any "minnows" make the field of 32, but this year's tournament will include the tiny island nation of Trinidad & Tobago.

I suppose a bit of perspective is in order, though. I'm sure my European reader(s) would argue that if the team wasn't from Europe or South America, then it's probably one of the aforementioned "minnows." I suppose FIFA wanted global representation at the Finals, so the the 32 teams come from all across the globe.

Which reminds me... Many Americans like to call the winner of the Superbowl the "World Champions." Same with the NBA -- the winner of that league somehow get the global crown (i.e., the "World Champion" Chicago Bulls in the '90's). Baseball has it's "World Series." Unfortunately, none of these are truly global tournaments. So it is a bit inaccurate to refer to our pro-sports league champions as "World" champions. It's not only inaccurate, but also arrogant, in my opinion.

What's neat about the World Cup is that it is truly a global tournament. From Canada to Sri Lanka, and from Madagascar to Luxembourg... From the microscopic islands in the South Pacific (even the nation of Tonga), to all the Lesser Antilles in the Carribean, where the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands each fielded teams), this World Cup tournament is accurately named indeed.

Welcome Back

2006-02-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, I have decided to make a comeback.

I have decided to focus on the second half of this blog's title, and that is "Football." And I'm not talking about the Steelers, either. You should read the word more like "Futbol," because that is what I want to write about. The 2006 FIFA World Cup is around the corner, and I am passionate about the United States Men's National Team.

I'll reserve the right to make comments of a political nature, of course, but my intent right now is to lay off of the second oldest professsion. That is part of the reason for the very long time since my last post -- I just got so frustrated with what was going on, leading up to the election, that I had to start thinking about other things.

My other reason also has to do with frustration. I would read other blogs before posting, and by the time I sat down to write on my own blog, it seemed that every issue that seemed interesting to me had been covered and covered.

And covered.

So I'm going to forget all that for awhile, and focus on Germany, 2006. So, dear reader(s), to quote one of my favorite country music singers (when I do actually listen to country music):
"Are you ready for some futbol?"

The Source is Revealed

2004-09-20T13:55:00.000-06:00

The Wizbang Blog has a good summary of the RatherGate Update right here. I'm not sure I can add anything to that.

On a related note, I'm not so sure I can add anything to anything, when it comes to breaking news. By the time I read about something, it seems like it is already being discussed in earnest at all my favorite Blog sites. So I'm going to change modes and be more a blog contributer (at other sites), rather than a blog writer.

I may continue to post here, but will try to include the second half of my Blog's title...

How about them Vols!?!

Accurate? How about Authentic?

2004-09-16T08:44:00.000-06:00

CBS released a statement yesterday evening, and paid proper lip service to the documents they showed last week, in regards to the authenticity of four memos that attempt to vilify President Bush's National Guard service. The network says they will keep an "open mind" about the situation.

Like the open-mindedness Mr. Rather had when charges from the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth arose?

This link, from WND, states that the documents have been traced to a Kinko's in Abilene, Texas, and only 21 miles from the home of Bill Burkett, partisan democrat, who has recently been saying he pulled some strings and got Bush in to the National Guard. Doubts about his statements concerning President Bush have been raised on this former disgruntled military man as far back as February.

In the WND story, it is also apparent that Rather has started to distance himself, yet CBS News President Andrew Heyward was still defending the documents as "accurate" as late as last night.

That is such a cop-out! I want CBS to explain in terms of authenticity, and then we can talk about accuracy. If someone forged a Da Vinci painting, it could be accurate, yet it wouldn't be authentic... See? Duh.

The Jammies Brigade

2004-09-15T13:05:00.000-06:00

It seems as if the real investigative reporters are being disparaged as "having no checks and balances." Jonathan Klein, former executive Vice-President of CBS news, gave his opinion of a blogger as "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."

Suzy Rice's BIRD blog has created a graphic for bloggers to use as a badge of honor, and I hope I can live up to the standards of the Jammies Brigade...

This is a test. This is only a test...

2004-09-15T12:33:00.000-06:00

You know that feeling of excitement you sometimes get when faced with the unknown? You might have felt this feeling just prior to cracking a book you've finally gotten, or after the previews have finally ended to the movie you've been waiting to see. Surely it is not unlike what early settlers may have felt when looking westward.

Well, that's the feeling I have, on starting this web log.

I have been inspired after learning that the blogosphere helped to really shed a critical light on a Dan Rather report aired on "60 Minutes II" on Wednesday, 8 September 2004. Four documents purported to relate to President Bush's National Guard service were analyzed and subsequently discredited, though as of now CBS stills stands by the story. Blogs such as Power Line, Little Green Footballs, and Freerepublic helped to thrust this fabrication in to the national spotlight, and I wanted to be on that train.

Thank you for visiting.