This is not only the MLS goal of the year, it’s probably the MLS goal of the decade. Missing goals like this is one of the reasons I hate having MLS and the Gold Cup going on simultaneously. Fortunately, with 500,000-plus views on the video, it seems like not too many people missed it. It’s also been a fairly big hit around the world, according to MLS Rumors, which also makes the good point that foreign players like Eric Hassli are what MLS needs to bring some quality into the league.
(A quick Editor’s Note: This column used to be called “Hot Friday Link Action.” The title was meant to be a cheeky dig at blog headlines that are all tricked out for SEO. I’ve changed the name to “Friday Lost and Found,” because frankly I think it sounds cooler and less douche-y. Also, I think most people weren’t getting the joke and just thought I was lame. So, from here on out we have “Friday Lost and Found.”)
Just in time for Gold Cup, we start today with a cool collaboration between soccer-t-shirts-for-hipsters clothier Bumpy Pitch and Nike on a set of US and Mexico rivalry t-shirts. The shirts take the design of the current US National team jersey and — for the US — add in some Mexico-digging elements, like an Eagle crushing an El Tri pendant and squeezing a prickly pear. The Mexican version comes in black with green detailing and shows a pink Eagle (there’s a reason its pink, but you need to read the post) ripping apart a US crest and eating the Don’t Tread on Me snake. Since the tea-baggers have co-opted the DOTM logo, I don’t mind that last bit at all.
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Facebook just acquired some serious design chops, buying design firm Sofa. Sofa will be familiar to most Mac users as the designers of icons for AppZapper, Transmission, Awaken, Coverflow and others. They’ve also done icon design for Nike, Mozilla and Tom Tom and created apps for Mac including Kaleidoscope and Versions. It’s unclear what the Sofa team will be charged with at Facebook, but they are moving from Amsterdam to Palo Alto. What is clear is that Facebook may be getting a lot prettier in the coming months and years.
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Posterous has just rolled out an API opening the platform to third party developers. The new API will “allow developers and others to build upon the Posterous platform, including the ability to create users and sites on one’s own domain.” What I really love about this is that Posterous has chosen a non-profit partner, Oxfam, to be the first showcase user of the API. Oxfam will be hosting a network of Posterous blogs as part of their new Grow campaign — a campaign aimed at raising awareness around food shortages around the world.
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Finally today, Steve Jobs is really taking this whole James Bond villain persona a bit too far. The Apple head showed up at a Cupertino City Council meeting the other day to pitch plans for a new Apple campus that literally looks like a damn spaceship landed in the middle of Silicon Valley. The ringed campus literally doesn’t include a single piece of straight glass. Plans include a central courtyard, 6,000 trees and a site specific natural gas power plant. Apple will only use energy from the California grid for backup and to power their giant laser.
After this weekend’s horror show against Spain and the 48-plus hours of hand-wringing that ensued as a result, last night’s decisive and controlling 2-0 win for the United States Men’s National Team had the refreshing air of a mild thunderstorm. The game was as it should have been — nearly thoroughly dominated by the United States and played in a controlled manner that lead to two quality goals, but did not create the type of fireworks we saw from Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. Truth be told, the US probably won’t open up 4-0 or 5-0 leads against any team as it advances through the World Cup. It’s not the type of game they play.
Last night the word was control — the US controlled the attack from the outset through tough and smart midfield play from Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones. Bradley was particularly impressive in the midfield, creating attacking chances and defending well when he was needed. Our forwards were bright and active, with Jozy Altidore scoring one goal and creating the assist on the second. For the first 75 minutes, the back line was solid and well organized. Clarence Goodson had a particularly good game. He made smart decisions, played with a calm demeanor and covered for Tim Ream when necessary. Central defense is still a question for the US, but Goodson may well be nailing down a starting spot for himself. Tim Howard had a fairly quiet night, but was called on to make some high quality saves. In the 75th minute he deflected a sure goal from Canadian substitute Ali Gerba over the bar and stopped a series of close range shots — the final from Gerba — in the dying minutes of the match to secure the shutout.
This was a good game for the US. They started the tournament with a solid win and got good performances out of their best players. Landon Donovan was excellent as usual in creating from the midfield and Clint Dempsey played with intensity and skill. Dempsey’s audacious first-half scorpion kick appeared to be on target, but was thwarted by a Canadian defender who happened to be in the right place at the right time. But most importantly, Jozy Altidore, a man who had largely gone missing during the World Cup, was a factor. His goal brimmed with confidence and strength and he actively took on players throughout the match. It was very good to see him in form.
But there are still questions hanging over this team. Barring injury, the US is settled in the midfield and at forward with good options for substitutes and two players — Clint Dempsey and Freddy Adu — who can move to a forward position when needed. However, the defense — in particular the central defense — is still very much in question. While Goodson has played well, Oguchi Onyewu continues to struggle since his knee injury. Tim Ream, frankly, isn’t quite ready for the level of competition here. As the tournament progresses, I’d like to see Carlos Bocanegra brought into the central defense and Jonathon Spector put out on the flank so we can have a look at a more experienced configuration.
The US will need that experience, because there are rough times ahead. The US should not be considered the favorite in this tournament. Mexico is playing dynamic soccer right now with a renewed sense of confidence and vigor. Led by Manchester United star Chicharito Hernandez, the side is much more dangerous in the attack than the United States right now. With the final scheduled for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, a very friendly venue for Mexico, El Tri are the clear favorites. The US needs to pick up its game defensively (in all aspects really) if they hope to be playing in the Confederations Cup in 2013.
Last night’s match inspires some confidence and under Bradley, the US has never started tournaments guns blazing. As he said last night after the match, “When you get into a tournament you need to keep growing.” Let’s hope our defense can grow up fast.
There’s very little to say after the World Cup champions, and arguably the best national team to ever step onto the field, come over and take a team to the woodshed 4-nil in front of 70,000 fans and an international television audience. This was an embarrassment, plain and simple and a stark and vicious reminder of how far behind the US is when it comes to developing the type of depth and talent needed to compete successfully on the world stage.
The US begins 2014 World Cup preparation today with the first match of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a tournament that will determine representation at the Confederations Cup, a crucial World Cup tournament featuring the World’s best national teams. Participation in the Confederations Cup is a key test for a team like the US and allows it to scout World Cup venues and the best competition.
As we begin this three year journey to 2014, the USSF and MLS must take stock of themselves and own up to how stagnant the US Player Pool has become and how poorly MLS has served the US in developing and retaining National Team talent. When the US has all of its starters they can potentially play with any team in the world. But once you get past the starting 11, the lack of depth is shocking — a fact that was laid bare for all to see against Spain. Depth needs to be fueled by MLS and right now MLS is failing.
We can celebrate the fact that MLS is adding new stadiums, bringing in new franchises and attendance is slowly, but steadily growing. But, if we measure the league’s success in on-the-field quality it’s been a very stagnant 16 years. Here’s what I’d like to see from the MLS brass:
ZOMG!?!? Have you heard about iCloud!?!? It’s going to be soooooo awesome. Except that maybe it’s not. Lots of reports coming out this week that Apple’s iCloud music offering is going to be less than fantastic. Major disappointments in the rumor mill include only being able to access songs you purchased from iTunes, which would make sense but be a huge disincentive for users to convert. Oh, and it probably won’t launch until the Fall. Apple is notorious for hyping its announcements at WWDC only to disappoint the drooling zombie fans (I am one of them), so it doesn’t surprise me at all that iCloud is not going to be the magic music box in the sky that brings peace to the world. I also won’t be surprised when millions of fanboys, myself included, rush out to buy the shit out of it anyway.
Finally, Microsoft. Remember those guys? They’ve trotted out a poorly produced video with tin-can sound showing off a preview of the Windows 8 operating system, which I have to say is pretty cool looking. The OS will create a unifying experience for Windows machines, whether they’re tablets, laptops, or desktops. The user interface looks great and there are some cool features her, not the least of which is a split “thumb keyboard” that is actually usable on a tablet. In fact, I was super impressed with the whole thing until they got to the part where they started using existing Microsoft Office applications. Then I just wanted to throw up all over it. If Microsoft doesn’t completely overhaul Office to match Windows 8, forget about it. When you put garbage on fine china, you’re still serving garbage.
The New York Times published an excellent piece yesterday on Barcelona’s Lionel Messi — Lionel Messi: Boy Genius — that admirably attempts to capture the world’s best player in mere words. However, as Messi’s former teammate Thierry Henry says, “With Lio, the best thing is not to talk about him, It is to watch him.”
The piece by By Jere Longman does an excellent job breaking down Messi’s goals in both words and graphics. Here, for example is Longman describing Messi’s crucial second goal against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals (which you can watch above):
Messi took the ball from Busquets about 45 yards from the goal. Four Madrid players surrounded Messi, but he deftly escaped. First, midfielder Lass Diarra was screened by Busquets. He caught up to Messi’s right shoulder and reached for the ball, but Messi sensed Diarra’s presence and touched it left. To keep from fouling, Diarra retreated with a dainty hop. Alonso quit after a few strides, also hopping in surrender.
Messi gathered speed and intent. Sergio Ramos charged at him, but Messi shielded the ball with the inside of his left foot, pushing it safely to the right. Taking the ball from him had become a blundering game, reaching for a dollar bill attached to a string. …
Raul Albiol now had his chance in the Madrid defense, but he is 6-2 with a high center of gravity. He backpedaled and crouched, but his balance was all wrong and Messi was coming too fast. Futilely, Albiol thrust out a leg. Messi blew past and Albiol spun around and bent over, all his weight on his right leg. For a moment he seemed to be playing the wrong sport, appearing less a soccer player than a man who had just hurled a javelin.
With another touch, Messi pushed the ball five yards ahead into a vacant spot and sprinted into the penalty area. Marcelo, a defender, desperately rushed from behind, but a foul would have given Messi a penalty kick, so Marcelo pulled back, hands thrown up and knees bent as if parachuting from a plane.
Messi touched the ball with the outside of his left foot, once, twice, and Ramos made one last hustling charge, but he was too late. Sliding to the turf, Messi cuffed the ball with the inside of his right foot. A final drip of the honey, as Hudson sometimes says in his excitable commentary.
The ball seemed to roll under Ramos’s foot, or between his legs. Beaten again, Ramos became tangled with Messi and tumbled in exasperation. Casillas moved to his left in goal, but the shot went to his right, squirting inside the far post. Real Madrid was all but finished in the Champions League. Casillas went to the ground on his backside and rose with his gloved hands upturned in a way that signaled disbelief and anger and resignation. And maybe awe.
The genius, the genius of
Football
In our modern-day life
Utterly
Unpredictable
He doesn’t know
What he’s going to do
So how the hell
Do the defenders
You cannot contain him
With a net
Or a trident
He’s got pace
He’s got power
He’s got vision
Technique!
And he’s got
Finishing power
His cup
Runneth over …
Magnificent Messi
Wild man
He doth bestride the Earth
Like a Colossus
Longman’s piece is one of the best I’ve read on soccer in the mainstream American media in quite some time. If you’re a fan of soccer, great writing and poetry do yourself a favor and go read it now. It’s magic.
To paraphrase Heart of Darkness, “The printed page, he dead.” Yesterday, Amazon announced that kindle books are now the most popular book format on Amazon.com. “Today,” the obit reads, “less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books – hardcover and paperback – combined.”
Also dead: The arcade in New York City. Above is the trailer for Arcade, a documentary that explores Chinatown Fair during its last week in operation. The arcade closed after being in operation for over 50 years. The director is running a Kickstarter campaign to get funding and has already exceeded his goal. But I’m sure he’d appreciate the extra investment.
It seems we are all staring into screens a lone right now.
Need something to do on a rainy Saturday? Try Pitch, the board game of graphic design — or, Pictionary for people with dark-rimmed glasses and Apple fetishes.
Finally today, Puma has taken a big step forward in thinking on corporate sustainability, announcing it will put a value on the environmental services it uses to produce its shoes. This sounds super wonky, and in many ways it is, but basically means that Puma will now account for environmental degradation when it tallies up the bottom line. From The Guardian: “Puma has published an economic valuation of the environmental impacts caused by greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and water consumption along its entire supply chain and has committed to the more difficult task of integrating both its social and economic impacts.”
I will admit that I am still bitter that the US lost the 2022 bid to Qatar, but this kind of excess and whiz-bangery is simply not good for the sport and not good for the World Cup. My fear for 2022 is that design excess — exemplified by these types of gimmicks — will turn the World Cup into a futuristic World’s Fair where design, technology and the lavish spending that can accompany both will take precedent over the play on the field.
Plus, what if these machine clouds come crashing down and take out the Italian side? Now that would be a real shame…
I’ll get to Juan Agudelo in a minute, but I want to first point out that it was Tim Howard who kept this match from being a 3,4,5-goal embarrassment for the United States.
I’ll admit that Howard’s performance in the World Cup wasn’t that great, but last night he had one of the best matches I’ve seen any goalkeeper play. He was up for it from the beginning and made several stops from point-blank range that were world-class. His positioning on the field was fantastic and his leadership kept our boot-strapping backline on its toes.
With all the hype surrounding Agudelo, let’s not forget that it was Tim Howard who made the USA goal meaningful.
Don’t believe the hype (or at least try to temper it just a bit)
Yes, Agudelo brought vitality and brashness to the US attack that was sorely missing these traits in the first half. But it misses the point to say that he, and he alone, was the difference maker. The difference in the second half was that Jozy Altidore was no longer forced to play as a lone striker — a position he is simply not equipped to play.
Altidore has always played best when he has a partner. In the Confederations Cup it was Altidore and Charlie Davies who were so effective in the attack against Spain. Last night it was Altidore and Agudelo. So, while I agree that Agudelo brought a lot to the party last night, it was really the tactical change (going from a 4-2-3-1 to a straight 4-4-2) that made all the difference for the US.
While I think there’s a vital place in the US tactics for a five-man midfield (see below), I’d love to see Bradley stick with the 4-4-2 for Tuesday’s match against Paraguay and test the Altidore/Agudelo pairing for a solid 90 minutes. With Charlie Davies returning to match form (three goals in two games for DC United) having these three strikers rotate into a 4-4-2 could be very effective during the Gold Cup.
That new German kid is pretty good
Another other big note for me was the emergence of Timothy Chandler, the German-born, Bundesliga-playing, son-of-serviceman who came on in defense in the second half. Chandler had a solid game on the right-side and his speed and crossing ability on the wings were a big reason the US was able to spend more time attacking in the second half.
In recent years, the US defense has been known for doing just enough to keep the team in games — a trait personified by the gritty Jay Demerit. Chandler may be the type of player that can bring some dynamism to the back line and add to the attack. At the very least, he’s fast as hell.
Tactics
Last night, Bob Bradley really earned my respect. While the second half performance made starting five in the midfield for the first half look like a mistake, I think there’s more going on here.
The first half formation didn’t just put Bradley’s most talented players on the field, it also clogged the midfield and gave Argentina’s stars less room to operate. While the US spent an alarming amount of time defending in the first half, that’s really what teams have to do to avoid losing to Argentina — any team that plays them will employ the same tactics. It may seem anathema to many US fans, but playing defense and absorbing the attack is a skill to be admired — just ask any Italian.
But it’s not just enough to simply absorb — you must have discipline and the US had that last night. They kept their shape, stayed with the play and were concentrated in their defense. Certainly they could have done more with the ball the few times they had it, but the objective for the first 45 minutes was to set up a manageable second half by absorbing, defending and avoiding cards. And damn if they didn’t pull it off.
In the second half, the US was able to change the formation and go on the attack in large part because the first-half tactics worked so well (and because Timmy Howard was absolutely, insanely good). You may not like what it looked like on the field, but Bradley’s set-up and tactics in the first 45 minutes put the US in a position to get a result. And in the end, what’s on the scoreboard is what really matters.
Gary Neville, an international soccer star and a guy’s guy, is an unabashed greenie. The enviro movement needs more like him. Read @ Cool Green Science
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Director of Digital Marketing for Ocean Conservancy -- husband and father of 2. You can read more about me here and find me at the following locations: Tr | Fb | Li | G+
