Posted by Creaven on July 15, 2009 under Europe, United States, World | 
On June 26, Cristiano Ronaldo completed a $132 million transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid. In strict business terms, Real Madrid bought an asset from another business in hopes of improving its own product. No government, federation or league was going to stand in the way of what Real Madrid thought was a smart business decision.
One day earlier, in New York City, the capital of capitalism, an annual experiment in socialism took place — the National Basketball Association draft. Though the Los Angeles Clippers are arguably the worst franchise in the history of American sports, they were awarded the first selection after another miserable season. A bad team was being rewarded in the hope it would become a better team; Ayn Rand would have barfed in disgust.
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Tags: Aaron Ramsey, Barack Obama, Blake Griffin, Cristiano Ronaldo, English Premier League, FIFA, John McCain, La Liga, Major League Baseball, Manchester City, National Basketball Association, National Football League, Seire A, Tottenham
Posted by Creaven on June 30, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Note: First, sorry I’m way late. Second, I’m not doing a report card because I’ve read other people ratings and I feel like it has poisoned by objectiveness.
Re-watching the Confederations Cup final is a painful exercise for U.S. fans.
First, you watch the first half. Dempsey’s flick and the Davies-Donovan give-and-go-and-goal puts a smile on your face. You realize at the end of the first half, U.S. soccer had just completed the greatest 225 minutes in its history. In that span, the U.S. out-scored its opposition 7-0, it beat the No. 1 team in the world and was up 2-0 against the best team in South America; it might be decades before U.S. soccer has a better stretch.
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Tags: Brazil, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Confederations Cup, ESPN, Felipe Melo, Kaka, Landon Donovan, Robinho, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 24, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Outside of the World Cup, the United States’ 2-0 victory over Spain Wednesday was its most impressive victory ever.
Torres, Villa, Xavi, Fabergas, Puyol, Pique, Casillas — these aren’t very good players, they’re the best in the world. Even with the loss, the reigning European Champions and No. 1 team on the planet are still the clear-cut favorites to win the World Cup next year and are one of the best national teams ever. For Americans who might not be soccer fans, Spain aren’t the equivlant of the 2009 Lakers, they’re closer to the 1996 Bulls.
For the U.S., who seemed on the verge of crisis four days ago, to beat Spain, who hadn’t lost in 35 matches (and had won 15 straight), is almost beyond comprehension. As fantastic a victory as it is, this doesn’t make the U.S. World Cup contenders (or even favorites to get out of the group stage), but who cares. On a field on the Southern tip of Africa the U.S. scored more goals than the best team in the world. Unbelievable.
To the grades……
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Confederations Cup, Conor Casey, ESPN, Jay DeMerit, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellcamera, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Spain, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 21, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
“I could explain the scenario to you, on how the United States could make into the semifinals, but we would be on television longer than Jerry Lewis on Labor Day.”
A pretty weak joke by ESPN’s Recce Davis before the U.S.’s Confederations Cup match against Egypt Sunday. In reality, it wasn’t too complicated. The U.S. and Brazil needed to win 3-0. But I get what Davis was saying: it was mathematically possible for the U.S. to get into the semifinals, but highly improbable.
Two hours later, what seemed not just improbable but impossible had happened. A team that hadn’t scored a goal in the run of play in four matches scored three as the U.S. shocked Egypt, 3-0. Brazil scored three times on what has historically been the best defensive team in the world, beating the Italians 3-0 (when was the last time Italy lost by three goals?).
The Confederations Cup: Where amazing beyond comprehension happens.
To the grades…
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Bob Bradley, Brad Guzan, Brazil, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Confederations Cup, Egypt, ESPN, Italy, Jay DeMerit, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Recce Davis, Ricardo Clark, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 18, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Brazil beating the United States 3-0 isn’t what made Thursday’s performance disgraceful. Brazil is one of the best teams in the world and, in short, the U.S. isn’t. But not showing up, playing scared, stupid mistakes, puzzling tactics and a lack of passion made the U.S.’s loss one of its most embarrassing in modern history. The match felt over after a couple minutes and was over after 20 minutes. To the grades….
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brazil, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, DaMarcus Beasley, ESPN, Jay DeMerit, Jnathan Spector, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jozy Altidore, Kaka, Landon Donovan, Lucio, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Reece Davis, Robinho, Sacha Kljestian, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 15, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press
“Yikes” is what I said when I saw Ricardo Clark throw his legs at Gennaro Guttuso.
“Awwwww,” is what I said when I saw the red card above Clark’s head.
I talked myself into the United States getting a draw against Italy (maybe even winning) but all my hope burst out of me when Clark was ejected in the 32nd minute. Donovan’s penalty did make me think,”well, you never know,” but it was impossible to ignore reality.
The top tactician in the world, up a man, with world-class players was going into halftime to figure out a strategy to break down a backline of Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu and Bornstien. There was no way the U.S. was going to hold on and they didn’t. In 45 minutes, 1-0 U.S. turned into 3-1 Italy. To the grades….
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, ESPN, Giuseppe Rossi, Italy, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstien, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Sacha Kljestan, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 14, 2009 under World |
This should be ugly. I’m going to say 3-0 and that’s probably the best case scenario for New Zealand. John Harkes just said, “Anything is possible in soccer, but this isn’t possible.” Also of note before the onslaught starts, the stadium looks 20 percent full — not a good sign when the best team in the world is playing.
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Posted by Creaven on under World |
I’m not watching the opening match of the Confederations Cup live. I taped it on DVR. It was on too early out here on the West Coast. I like to sleep in (it’s 1:13 p.m. right now). Anyway let’s kickoff the Confederations Cup baby!
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Posted by Creaven on June 13, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Politics and sports don’t mix; at least not anymore.
It’s been a generation since Mohammed Ali refused to go to Vietnam and the United States hockey team upset the Russians at Lake Placid. Since then, sports and politics have generally existed in two separate universes. Players have agents and public relations experts telling them being controversial isn’t economically smart and Al-Qaeda doesn’t have a sports governing body.
But once in a while the sports gods treat us with a matchup in which it’s impossible to ignore the political implications and with a little (OK, a lot) of luck we might get just such a matchup in a couple weeks.
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Posted by Creaven on June 8, 2009 under World |
After watching the United States beat Honduras Saturday night I quickly turned the channel to see how Mexico was doing. The Mexcians were down 1-0 to El Salvador but the world seemed to be back in order after Cauthemoc Blanco booted home a penalty, tying the match in the 71st minute. With a tie looking inevitable, a handball in the Mexican box gave Eliseo Quintanilla a chance to give El Salvador its biggest victory in a generation and Quintanilla slammed home the game-winner.
Watching this upset from my California couch, I thought to myself, “wow, could Mexico really not qualify for the World Cup?” After some research, the answer is yes, they could not qualify, but it’s still unlikely.
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