PSW Corner Kicks

Flawed Logic in Stadium Fight

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:04:00 +0000

Yesterday, David Nakamura of the Washington Post published a story about a trio of political opponents to public financing of sports stadiums who are trying to stop the District Council from helping keep D.C. United in the city. It’s the same trio that tried to stop the baseball stadium – and failed.

They claimed then that was a bad investment by the city and that tax dollars shouldn’t be used for a soccer stadium. However, in typical political fashion they’re conveniently “spinning” the truth while using several key arguments against the project.

First, the D.C. government isn’t planning to levy any new taxes at all to help pay for the facility. They’re using excess (and unexpected) funds from the baseball stadium revenues.

Second, Umm, guys? If the baseball stadium hadn’t been built, there wouldn’t have been excess revenues in the first place, yet you opposed that too.

Third, in the same breath they used to say the MCI Center was a success [thanks to a large number of events there per year], they betray their own claims of intelligent debate by saying there would only be 30 events per year at a new soccer stadium. Yet even a caveman would know the Washington Freedom, Major League Lacrosse, college and high school sports, concerts, and other special events would clearly stand in line to use the facility.

In my opinion a D.C. United Stadium anywhere outside of the city would be a disaster that represents the difference between soccer becoming truly main stream in this country within the next 10 years as opposed to the next 30 - if ever. This country needs to prove to our own eurosnobs that we can match the overall experience and passion that goes with the sport world wide. And when we do, the sports columnists, TV dollars, and international stars will follow.

D.C. United has an opportunity to become the first truly global soccer team from this part of the world by offering a game-day experience with real "buzz" and a palpable energy from the stands that burns the experience into fans' amygdalas, creating a craving to return again and again (addiction). We need an atmosphere that is hardly discernible from attending a match in London or Berlin, and to get that the stadium has to be downtown, surrounded by commercial businesses, pubs, restaurants, and public gathering spaces in order for that to happen.

MLS does not need another suburban stadium. The final location of where to build this stadium needs to be where we draw a line in the sand and refuse to let soccer be pushed to the edges of the mainstream.

Sign the petition

Contact the Mayor

Contact City Council

Tell D.C. United you won't attend games outside the City

Discuss the issue:
Soccer Insider
BigSoccer.com

More quotes from USA v Argentina, June 8th, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:01:00 +0000

Bob Bradley on if Freddy Adu is close to becoming a regular with the US Men's team.
Freddy's growing. We see everything, so we see the things, the moments that are special. When Freddy has the ball in the attacking half of the field, he’s capable for doing some great things. But we’re also making sure that he understands that there’s more to the game than that. When he comes into the national team, he understands that when he walks in that door, nothing that has been said about him, written about him, means anything. The only thing that matters now is that he can show the rest of these guys that when the games get very hard, that he can help our team be successful. And he understands that. That part of what he’s also learning when he goes to Portugal and his club team. So you see a young man growing, learning, handles himself a little bit different than he did probably a year ago, and now we need to just need to keep this going. Some days it may mean a lot of playing time, but we have to see. We feel like when we talk about our group, and our trust. We have so many different kind of players. We’ve talked about some of the experienced guys [earlier in this press conference], we have young guys that have played different roles. And we just try to establish that for all of them, we are working together. We have a big goal in the end. There’s a lot of steps along the way, and everybody has to commit and be humble, shut the rest of it out, and show people on the inside that you can help make this thing better. And for us, Freddy is no different than the rest, and that’s important.

We still know that the progress with Freddy… It’s got to go at the right speed. It can’t be accelerated unless it’s earned the right way.

Landon Donovan on the match in general
We had some chances to win the game, but I think all-in-all we can’t be disappointed with that result.

On where the team stands
We hope we learned a lot. It would have been nice to score a goal in these three games, but I think the adjustment tonight from the first half to the second.

Ali Krieger wins UEFA Cup, Father Ken retires

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:36:00 +0000

Ali's Franfurt team beat Marta and company Sunday 3-2 in the second leg of the women's UEFA Cup final. She is now with the US team in LA.

Meanwhile, her father (and former PWSI coach) Ken Krieger has retired after a 30-year coaching career - accumulating a record as the winningest high school coach in Virginia history. He wants to spend more time supporting Ali, as well as caring for his ailing father, who has pancreatic cancer. Read about his amazing career here.

Beckham's 70-yard goal video

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Have you seen this goal yet? Hopefully the youtube link will stay live (if MLS is smart, and doesn't force them to take it down).

If the video is gone (boooo MLS) check it out here:

Ali Krieger update

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:59:00 +0000

In case you were wondering why Ali Krieger hadn't been in the last three US Women's team camps after making her first appearances for the full national team earlier this year, it wasn't because she wasn't wanted.

The US team tried calling her in three times, but her pro club - FFC Frankfurt - would not release her. As one of the best women's teams in Europe, they have been busy with Bundesliga, German Cup, and UEFA Cup matches. In fact, she's showing up late to this US camp because Frankfurt faces Marta's Umea team this Saturday for the Women's UEFA Cup trophy after a 1-1 draw in the first leg.

I caught up with Ali by email yesterday from Germany and incorporated some of her quotes into our story on the US camp.

Here's the rest of what she had to say:

On her first chance to get back to a US camp since January of this year
I'm really happy to finally get back to LA and train once again with the full team. The reason I am only going to half of the camp is because I am playing in the UEFA Cup Final match this Saturday with 1.FFC Frankfurt against a team from Umea, Sweden. The club has released me for the second week of this camp because we have some time off before we finish the last three games of our Bundesliga (regular season) games.

On when she'll be done with the Bundesliga season and her plans for the summer
The Bundesliga here in Germany will not be finished until June 15th which is our last game. I will then be coming home on June 16th to prepare for the upcoming camps that are left for this summer with the full WNT.

On what her first season as a pro in Europe has been like
Playing for Frankfurt has been a great experience and I am very happy to be on one of the best club teams in the world! I think no matter if I am with the US team training or playing here in Germany with my club, I think both atmospheres have prepared me for what is to come these next couple months. I feel really lucky to have both options of playing with the US Team or here in Frankfurt. I am really happy to be thrown back into the mix after missing out on a few big events, but I did miss for appropriate reasons, UEFA Cup games and German Cups games for Frankfurt. I think playing here in Europe this year, has honestly been the best experience I think I could get.

On chances of making the US Olympic squad
I feel fit and really motivated for the next month coming up. I'm happy to have the opportunity to make the Olympic roster and I will be extremely excited if it comes true. It will be truly rewarding and I would feel very honored to be a part of such a great team. I have been working really hard this past year to make this dream come true, so I can only hope the outcome will be successful!

Got any of your own questions for Ali? Post them here as comments, and I'll email her for your answers.

How the little boy that cried explains what's wrong with American soccer

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:59:00 +0000

For my full story on Fulham's great escape, and why this little boy was so upset - see this article on Potomac Soccer Wire

As news of Fulham’s win on the final day came over the air, it devastated Reading fans who’s team had just won convincingly 4-0. Several TV sports news program showed the hear breaking images of a boy no more than five years old crying and thrashing about uncontrollably in his father’s arms, both wearing Reading jerseys. The news had obviously just set in that Fulham had won and their team had crashed to the 2nd tier of soccer in England after just two short seasons in the Promised Land. For much of the lifetime of that boy, Reading had been in the Premier League. To him, it was his world.

As heart wrenching as it is, the image of that little boy crying really speaks to the emotional power that is inherent to the structure of soccer leagues in most of the rest of the world. From despair, as though there has been a death in the family, to unbounded joy and cheering like you’ve just been reborn and won the lottery on the same day, the emotions felt by fans epitomizes the cliché of “life and death” in sports.

It must seem like a cruel, cruel world to that little boy, but the rest of us can take away the greatness of what Fulham had just achieved, even if you’re not a Fulham fan. I personally can’t imagine caring quite that much about my favorite team winning or losing a Super Bowl, because “at least we were there, and we won our division championship anyway”. Chelsea fans of a similar age could not possibly feel their world had ended, when on the same day they learned their team would finish 2nd in the league behind this year’s EPL Champion Manchester United.

Only the reality that is relegation creates this much caring deep within fans. And although American sports marketers continue to say that “playoffs are the American way”, I firmly believe MLS will never be one of the best leagues in the world, let alone truly challenge for the hearts of serious NBA, MLB, or NFL fans until it too offers such a structure. In it’s current state, every team – no matter how bad – is safe, with the only drama outside of an MLS Cup final being whether or not a team will get a lower pick of some unproven college prospects in that winter’s “draft”.

It all reminds me of an anonymous quote I’ve seen as a signature line of many online soccer fans’ profiles, on t-shirts, and used all the time in loose conversation amongst regular fans - “Some say soccer is a matter of life and death. But I assure you, it’s way more important than that.” Indeed. And until that is the MLS marketing tag line, backed up with action, our soccer will always be 2nd class.

More quotes from Abby and the gang

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Thought everyong might enjoy the full quotes collected for my article on the US women's team after their 6-0 steam rolling of Canada Saturday night at RFK.

From Head Coach Pia Sundhage

On the recent performance of Natasha Kai:
I have to say she's done an absolutely fantastic job. I wasn't happy when I saw her the first time. She was not focused. She was unfit, and I don't think she acted professionally. So I gave her feedback – is the look you want people to remind you. And she started to show up in practice and do in a good way and little by little. To me it was very important to give her feedback when she did something good. And she started to play some minutes and more and more and then the starting 11. She did a great job. My job is to give her support and give her feedback, and make her accountable for what she has to do. She didn't act professional in general, and that was bad.

Has she had the opportunity to review the youth development system in the US since arriving?
No. I've been here since December. So, I'm focused on the Olympics. I know there are many things going on. And if I survive the Olympics, I should be part of women's development. Right now, honestly I don't have time. I need to spend time with the game and with the players.

Does she think there should be a single national league for girls just like the USSF created for boys?
Well, I don't know. Because I don't have the bigger picture. But I do think it's important to ask the bigger question of what should there be on the women's side. Because if you look around the world right now. You look at Germany. I know what's happening in Germany – they have a program. – a developmental program. In Sweden they have an elite program, and I know what's happening in Norway. So we need in the US to find our way. And start to look at the situation and ask is this a good environment for a little girl or is a good environment for a 19 year old girls who is just very talented she can play in this team. I don't know the answer of course, but we have to ask the question and right now there's something going on so, but I'm not a part of that right now.

Have you noticed a big difference between how this team is playing now compared to under Ryan last year in the World Cup?
Yes. The reason I am here is the word “change”. I have European style and one word is “keep possession” and find right moment to penetrate to find that timing, and it's a change. But I can't do too much of a change that I confuse them, but I can't do too little either because no one would notice, so I try to do something between, and this game I think we are half way there we are doing a great job. Sometimes we play direct to Abby, and sometimes we keep possession and slow down the game a little bit.

How is to win like this without Abby scoring goals?
Yes, but still she scores, and that's a strength. Of course, she played 90 minutes and she a part of the attack of course, and if you ask Even Pellerud [the Canadian Coach], he will talk about Abby – what problems she creates. She didn't score goals, however we have other players stepping up and scoring goals, and that's a strength.

Abby Wambach

How does it feel to be back at RFK?
It's great. It feels like I'm back home. The fans are great. There were a lot of fans here and the crowd was rocking and when you score six goals, there's a lot to cheer about so it's a great game.

Did you feel you were back home all week, or just when you arrived here tonight?
Yeah, all week. It's crazy how driving all around DC I knew exactly where I was going. I haven't been back here in a couple years. It's special being here and I have a special place in my heart for the city of DC.

Despite your offer to let other players choose first, is Washington your first choice if you have a choice for a WPS team?
It makes sense, but I don't exactly know how the cookies are going to crumble. But I'm going to do the best that I can once the league starts to hopefully make it a success.

Is it exciting to see a lot of other players scoring goals?
You have no idea how relieving it is because it makes my job easier. We're scoring a lot of goals. It's making our attack and our playing more dangerous to other teams and it's a whole heck of a lot harder for us to be the tactically broken down.

Angela Hucles

On only player from this area – what is it like to be back here.
It's great. You can hear the fans that are excited to have us here. My parents, cousins, uncles, [are here] I always love coming back to this area.

What club did you play for growing up?
Beach FC – they're still going strong!

On living in Boston and wanting to play for Boston WPS team – will it happen for sure?
I don't know for sure. Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll figure out which players are being allocated and which are being drafted. I'm looking forward to finding out where I'm going to be.

On scoring the winning goal last week against Australia in the final minute.
It was great. Everything just lined up perfectly. A great ball in from Abby perfectly flicked on. I was very fortunate to get that finish.

Remembering a forgettable night in Salt Lake

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:02:00 +0000

I took the time to put some thoughts down over on a BigSoccer discussion thread, and thought I might share it here to.

The subject - D.C. United's horrible loss to the horrible Real Salt Lake on a horrible field.

Although the thread topic was "fire the coach", my contribution was more reflective of the meaninglessness of the MLS regular season, and offered the idea that coach Tom Soehn actually made a smart decision in not really going for the win - but rather wanting to see if the bench could win.

Here is/was my take (BTW, my BigSoccer handle is "chummer"):

I really felt while watching [the DC/RSL match Saturday] that [Coach] Soehn had literally punted this game on purpose. Not that they didn't want to win, but that they really didn't care if they won or not. This game was NEVER going to mean anything. It was depressing, disappointing, and even a little inspiring at the same time for me:

Depressing because we really looked bad - not a single player had a "good" game, and it just wasn't soccer. Any game with visible "throwball" lines is depressing for me, even the ManU v Arsenal match would be depressing played on turf with football lines. Pushing to build SSS is the best thing MLS ever did, and will go down in history as the BIGGEST reason the league survived the "early years" when historians look back in 40 years when we're bigger than Hockey and Baseball.

Disappointing because with all talk about our adding "depth", this game made it look like we were no better off than a crappy team like RSL that has a brand new front office and barely a candle to hold against our foreign recruiting relationships. Have we really invested all this effort only to have to rely on $17K/year reserve players?

A little Inspiring because I actually get a warm fuzzy thinking that Soehn basically stood up on the mountain top - literally - and screamed to the league

"I'm not going to waste my time trying to win every MLS regular season game because it's a meaningless endeavor that only keeps us from our primary goals. Teams that only have MLS Cup to play must take seriously what I cannot, because D.C. United has other major concerns. All we have to do in the MLS regular season is get results at RFK and then peak at playoff time."

The inspiration continues as I imagine him continuing with "The season is all about winning a couple of tournaments for us. We put our all into CCC and clearly could have advanced, while beating the so called "best" team in Mexico. We will now focus on SuperLiga and the Champions League, and winning at RFK so we can also then focus this Fall on the tournament that is MLS Cup playoffs. EVERYTHING ELSE between now and those tournaments is little more than training for us. As long as we win 9 games we'll be in the MLS Cup playoffs, so take your away games on a concrete field with throwball lines and shove it MLS."

If this thought process is even close to what TS was/is privately thinking, then we shouldn't fire him, we should enshrine him for knowing how to focus on what's really important. And who can blame the players for not thinking the same thing. You never like to see a professional "take a night off", but we did, and it was a good lesson, but it is in the past now and should be completely forgotten, as most of the regular season in the early months truly is forgettable.

A re-Sounding victory for fans everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:49:00 +0000

You may or may not have been following the naming saga going on up in Seattle over their newly approved MLS franchise. The team will join the league this time next year after several years with a dominating USL-1 team named "Seattle Sounders". Well, with that team "put on hold" because it's owners were part of the group starting the MLS team, the fan base and brand for "Seattle Sounders" just happened to be ripe for use by the MLS startups desperate to get busy with their marketing efforts.

The team owners simply did not want to use the "Sounders" name, which I'm assuming was because they wanted to separate themselves from ever being confused as a 2nd-tier pro club in the USA. Big mistake guys!

Offering very uninspiring choices "Seattle FC", "Seattle Alliance", and "Seattle Republic", the 14,500 fans that voted mounted a write-in effort that would make Ralph Nadar so proud of his Green constituents in the upper northwest. So, "Seattle Sounders FC" it is. We'll see you in April 2009 boys, just don't take any of our D.C. United players in the expansion draft, and we might buy you a drink when you come to RFK for your first reSOUNDING defeat.

Has United bitten the hand that feeds them?

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:17:00 +0000

When I'm coaching, and need a way to pick a player or a team that gets first dibs on something for a drill, etc.. instead of telling someone to "pick a number between 1 and 10", I usually ask a question about a recent pro or college game on TV, and the first player to answer correctly "wins".

On Wednesday night, I asked a group of U13 girls if anyone could tell me the score from the D.C. United game from the night before. They had no idea, but I got an instantaneous chorus of good guesses, with one girl obviously guessing the correct 2-0 without any real clue.

So, I DQ'd everyone on the grounds of poor support of the black and red, and gave them a follow up question. The results disturbing, and it really made me think about the risk of such a high player turn over undoing all the work United has done "branding" themselves to thousands of kids they literally depend on attending each game.

My question was "name five current D.C. United players". The answers were not guesses, but they were disturbing, and should make Dan Giffin and Scott Miller pretty nervous -

Player - "Freddy Adu!"
Coach - "ahhh, nope."

Player - "umm, umm, umm, ohhh Gomez - Christian Gomez, ha hah!"
Coach - "NOPE"
Player - "WHAT?"
Coach - "They traded him"
Player, "WHY!!!, He's awesome. That was stupid."
Coach - "Sorry, don't take it out on me"

Player - "oo oo, Gros, that Josh guy with the cast"
Coach - "nope, he retired"
Player - "darnnit!"

Player - "I know, Eleco"
Coach - "nope, common guys you've got know someone."
Player - "I loved Eleco! What's going on?"

Player - "Why'd they get rid of Gomez? That was really dumb"
Coach - "sorry, but they got someone better instead"
Player "nu ahh, Gomez was the best, that's dumb"

Player - "Oh yeah... Perkins baby!!"
Coach, "nope, he went to Europe"
Player - "ahhhh!"

You get the point right? These girls rattled off more names of players than most youth players could, thanks no doubt to all the games I've taken them to over the years and my regular use of United Trivia in practices.

The fact that all the D.C. United players they had come to know were not gone, created an immediate backlash. DCU had finally taken root with youth players, only to turn them off by selling/trading/losing all the players they've worked so hard to "brand" all this time. All of us "adults" perfectly understand trying to bring in new players that are "supposed" to improve the team, but it sure must drive the marketing staff crazy! And if the team doesn't perform, there surely will be a lot of "see, I told you so" around the office staff water cooler at RFK.

I'll close with this, then ask your thoughts:

The player that LOVES Gomez so much asked - "What team did he go play for?"
Coach - "Denver"
Player - "When they play Denver, that's who I'm rooting for - GO DENVER!"
Coach - "ouch. I might have to cut you now"

Networks should follow Title IX

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Can you believe the US Women's Olympic Qualifying games won't be shown on TV? Unfortunately I do believe, and it's a real shame!

The BEST women's team in the world opens Olympic Qualifying tonight at 7:30 against Jamaica in Juarez, Mexico. They are the defending Olympic gold medalists, and tonight is the first step toward their title defense. Don't we deserve the opportunity to see our team earn their way to China in these qualifying games? Last month we all got to see the Men qualify. What do we have to do to get equal coverage for women's soccer here? How about a little Title IX enforcement for networks?

US Soccer's Match Tracker will have to do. Enjoy reading about the game in 2-minute increments :-(

Ronaldo's BEST performance?

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:55:00 +0000

Love or hate Manchester United, you have to applaud the performance of Cristiano Ronaldo this weekend. He scored possibly his best goal ever, then went on to assist on three others in the EPL leader's dismantling of a decent Aston Villa team. The Portuguese winger is widely believed to be a shoe-in for FIFA Player of the Year, and this latest performance is also being heralded as possibly his best ever. Good enough indeed to allow discussions in English pubs and press alike that he may nearing "George Best" greatness.

BTW, honorable mention to Wayne Rooney. Watch closely at the beginning of this highlight reel for the perfection with which he strikes his full volley. Have you ever seen a ball do that?

Enjoy:

Tampa Bay a bust for soccer

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:49:00 +0000

What were they thinking? Could the men's Olympic qualifying tournament be disrespected any more? From the uninformed Fox Soccer Channel announcers to disappearing Cubans, to empty stadiums. One of the most important soccer tournaments of the decade for the American's has little more flavor than a high school game on local cable access.

I honestly feel like recommending you don't even watch the games. I wrote earlier this week about Olympic dreams, but the only thing keeping this from looking like a nightmare to anyone is that the U.S. has all but qualified for the semifinals - barely.

If you've been watching along with me, here's a laundry list of things that are simply inexcusable:

1. Games every 2 days? Give me a break. I know it needs compressed due because it's not a international open date, but this is serious soccer we're talking about, not a youth tournament. Teams just shouldn't be asked to play 2 games in 3 days.

2. Horrendous ticket sales in the wrong size stadium. Bring back Hershey, PA PLEASE. It only held 5,000 people, but those 5,000 provided amazing atmosphere. What genius though there was any chance of even filling that huge NFL stadium more than even 20%? I was reminded recently that "hope is not a plan". If you're going to stage a tournament in a facility that big, you better be prepared with a plan to sell tickets through some other mechanism other than just making them available through TicketMaster.

3. Staying with the stadium choice... Newsflash! If you only have 10% of your stadium filled, put those people on the opposite side as the camera. There was not a SINGLE person sitting on the side of the stadium visible on TV. Dumbasses.

4. If you're going to put a soccer game on TV, make your announcers actually show up, and have them actually read a few articles about the games they're covering in advance. From mispronouncing names of US players, to thinking Jonathan Spector was on the bench for the Cuba game (when the biggest news of the entire announcements of the US roster was that he was staying with West Ham in London until the semifinal round of this tournament). Last night, they even said Bob Bradley should be fast tracking Stuart Holden to US citizenship so he can appear with them during World Cup qualifying?? If he's not a US citizen, what the hell was he doing on the field last night? Oh, and by the way, he was also on the roster for the US v Mexico match last month. I know, I actually talked to him after the match!! Why do these guys have to sit in a studio in LA watching a game on the same small screen as we are. Get your butts to the game people!

5. Oh, and hey Mr. person in charge of Cuban player security. Another newslfash, the Cuban players are probably going to try an defect. More power to them as far as I'm concerned, but maybe, just maybe you'd have someone outside their hotel room door - at least until after the last game of the tournament?

Anyway, I'm sure I'm missing a lot here. Share your thoughts? All I know is this tournament is setting back our sport in this country. Let's hope Nashville for the final-four is better, but not holding by breath.

Olympic coaching curse?

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:22:00 +0000

While writing my piece in for today on Olympic soccer dreams, it dawned on me that being the coach of the U.S. men's Olympic team may not be for the superstitious gaffer. Does Peter Nowak really want the U.S. Olympic job? The last two coaches – Clive Charles in 2000 and Glenn Myernick in 2004 where – were both GREAT men and WONDERFUL coaches. But unfortunately, they also both passed away within three short years of their Olympic Head Coaching honors. Charles died from Prostate Cancer in August of 2003, and Myernick from complications four days after suffering a heart attack during his morning jog on August 5th, 2006. If something were to happen to Nowak, I don't think anyone will want to job in 2012.

My favorite D.C. United Video

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:21:00 +0000

Just heard Carbon Leaf on my XM Radio while preparing today's news wire, and it reminded me of my favorite D.C. United youtube of all time. What better way to get excited for the new season. The combination of three things are what makes this great for me:

1. Drubbing Celtic 4-0
2. Carbon Leaf's "Desperation Song"
3. Freddy Adu's magic (ps. for an isolation of Freddy in this match, search "Freddy adu celtic" on youtube.)

Here's the video - enjoy!

Look out high school soccer, here I come

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:27:00 +0000

Just before the Christmas holiday, I made the decision to get involved in coaching high school soccer - if I could find the right opportunity. It didn't take long, and it couldn't have come any closer to my home, or with a local school with a better pedigree. Although I've known for a while, I can now proudly announce that I am the new Head JV Coach for Potomac Falls Girls Soccer. Tryouts start Monday morning, then two weeks of practice, spring break, and then I'll be coming to a high school near you (if you're in Loudoun County that is, although we do play Chantilly late in the season).

If you come to a game, please say hello. I'll be the guy who thinks he's in charge, but deep down knows that teenage girls in large groups pretty much call all the shots!

We'll see how much time I have, and what the rules are about coaches blogging about high school games (there are A LOT of rules in Loudoun County), but if possible, I'll try to share my experiences here.

The most interesting thing for me, will not only be balancing my time between coaching in club and for high school, but how that experience will hopefully give me an inside line on the relations between the two. I know a lot of club coaches that think high school wears out their players, and a lot of high school coaches who say the same thing about club. Obviously, they're both right as most club team play right through the high school season.

My hope is the experience I gain help bridge some of those disconnects through future writings here.

Wish me luck!

PS. "Potomac Soccer Wire" has nothing at all to do with "Potomac Falls High School". It is a COMPLETE coincidence that I ended up coaching at a school that shares a name with the publication and web site I've been operating since 2006.

Youth soccer IQ training

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:27:00 +0000

You may or may not know that I am an active youth (and very shortly high school) coach based in Northern Virginia. Currently I coach a U13 girls team in WAGS, and as the girls' skills and maturity have reached a point to where game tactics can have a lot to do with results, we've begun really focusing on improving their "Soccer IQ". I've written about this before, but in short, Soccer IQ refers to the things about the game beyond specific skills and athleticism. Players with good Soccer IQ can tell you why they made a decision on the field, not just what that decision was. Understanding the "why" in their heads, leads to a dramatic improvement in their decision making and the efficiency of the learning.

While I've always encouraged our players - and their parents - to watch as much soccer live and on TV as possible, this winter we made it mandatory. Before our indoor games a Dulles, we all get together at someone's house and watch a game using a DVR so we can pause it and discuss the "why" behind what they're seeing the pros do. We also have assignments to watch at home, and then the players send me 100+ word emails describing what they watched. It is working really well, and has the whole team really thinking about what they're doing on the field and in our training sessions. In training, they're making connections between what I'm teaching and what they remember seeing on TV. When that connection - or should I say "recognition" - takes place, I feel like what I'm teaching is absorbed 300% more than trying to teach in the vacuum of "because Coach said so".

If you coach youth soccer, I hope you're focusing on Soccer IQ too. Your players are never too young to start learning the why behind the what in your teachings. Of course, if you've never played the game a decently high level yourself, odds are you'll have almost as much Soccer IQ learning to do as your players. Let's face it, there just wasn't that much opportunity to watch pro soccer live or on TV when most of today's coaches were growing up. No matter what your own Soccer IQ is today, watching, reading, and playing more yourself - with an analytical antenna hoisted - will do wonders for the effectiveness of your training sessions. Personally, I've become a far better player tactically and emotionally since I started coaching and studying the game. I only wish my youth coaches in the 80's had worked on my Soccer IQ as much as they did screaming "run faster, kick harder".

I'll leave you with one of the first 100-word reports I received last week from two of the players on our U13 girls team after watching Chelsea v Hudderesfield in FA Cup action last week. Needless to say both these players started in our first full-sided pre-season scrimmage yesterday! This is the kind of passion for the game that drives players to work hard on their own, away from formal training. That is the key to becoming a great player!

Enjoy, and remember, they're just 13, so have a very unique view of some things (and little idea what the FA Cup is).

Coach Chris,
C---- and I watched the Chelsea vs. Huddersfield Town game. The game was for the FA cup round 5, Chelsea was blue and Huddersfield Town was black. They played in Stamford Bridge London, England. Chelsea played in a 4-3-2-1 formation, in Chelsea’s formation, number 17 Sinclair played my position and number 20 Ferreira played C----’s position. Huddersfield Town played in a 3-4-1-2 formation, in Huddersfield Town formation, number 7 Brandon played my position and number 6 Clark played C----’s position. Huddersfield Town had the first shot and the first foul of the game. We noticed many small things that they did during the game, for example, they didn’t have any pressure when they were passing in defense, they did many drop passes, and used the whole field. Also they kept the ball under control almost the whole time, they headed the ball whenever they could, and they attacked all the balls and did a lot of slide tackling. During the game they took a lot of corners but not many throw ins goal kicks. The first goal scored was by Chelsea’s Frank Lampard number 8, Sinclair number 17 crossed it in from out wide and Lampard finished. Next goal was by Huddersfield Town’s Collins number 4 he controlled the ball out of the air and scored. Following that goal Chelsea scored again, Lampard 8 shot but the goalie got it and he followed his shot and scored. Another goal scored by Chelsea was by Pazzio, he dribbled through all the defenders and number 13 scored but it was called off sides. The last goal was scored by Chelsea, again, number 21 Kalou cut the ball past the defenders and megged the goalie. Chelsea dominated the game in possession and the ending score was 3-1 Chelsea.

RANDOM FACTS:
Birds flew on the field!
Owner of Chelsea is a fat Billionaire!
Avrum Grant, the coach of Chelsea, looks like a troll!
Side ref looks like a giraffe!
Williams blocked a goal like lessh did!
They had balloons!
NUMBER 29, PAGE AKA BALDY!!!

love your favorite players,

Real Maryland in World Cup qualifying

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:32:00 +0000

World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF had a busy weekend. Former D.C. United players Ronald Cerritos and Eliseo Quintanilla both scored in El Salvador’s 12-0 embarrassment Anguilla. Cerritos scored a hat-trick while Quintanilla scored once.

With Cerritos planning to continue his professional career in our area with upstart Real Maryland of United Soccer Leagues, his scoring efforts are a positive sign, and plenty to get the sizable local Salvadoran population excited.

However, the completely lopsided score couldn’t have made organizers of the next leg at RFK Stadium happy, as it’s hard to imagine many people will pay to watch another drubbing. Will Anguilla even send a team?

Wouldn't it be great if the El Salvadoran team gave some local DC talent the dream chance at earning a cap? If they spent the right amount of time here scouting area men's leagues, no doubt they could field a full team easily capable of not giving up 12 goals in what is supposed to be a home game for Anguilla at RFK stadium on March 26th.

Why is a game at RFK a home game for Anguilla? Apparently, they could not offer a suitable facility to host an international match, but couldn't have been happy that CONCACAF approved RFK. The Washington D.C. region boasts the 2nd largest concentration of Salvadorans in the world.

Speaking of Real Maryland, Daryl Ferguson was not called in by Barbados for their World Cup qualifing draw against Dominca. The new USL pro team making their home at the Maryland Soccerplex kicks off pre-season training this Sunday at 9 am on field 20. The public is welcome.

U.S. Men's teams quotes following Mexico match

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Writing from the hotel in Houston before headed to I-Hop (to fill my tank), the gas station (to fill the car's tank), and to the airport (hopefully to a plane with a full tank).

Attending a U.S. Men's away game is always a whirlwind of great memories, fueled just as much by the people you meet as by the game itself. Alex (my friend and photographer who accompanied me to Houston) and I even met two guys that flew in from Alaska just for game. How cool is that!

More later on the game itself. For now, enjoy my first set of PSW-exclusive post-game quotes from U.S. players.

Oguchi Onyewu (Man of the Match)

On the physicality of the game.
"I didn't think it was very physical. Maybe they did, but you know. For me it was alright. If they wanted to get physical, that was fine. It's like my playground. It was OK. A couple of nasty words were exchanged here and there, but that's part of the game."

On how special would it be for you to play a world cup qualifier at RFK stadium in front of friends and family?
"I think it's about time. I don't remember the last time we played in DC. It's really interesting for the U.S. National team not to play in our nations capitol for so long. I'm hoping that sooner or later we're going to have a friendly or a qualifer over there. It would be great to play in front of my home fans and family."

Freddy Adu

On how special would it be to play a World Cup qualifier in DC?
"Obviously it would be great. That's where I started. To go back to play in front of those fans would be a dream come true. It would be amazing."

On how many tickets he would need for friends and family?
"It would be like 300 [laughs]. It would be awesome."

On if he expected to play forward tonight.
"I didn't know if I was play at all or not. I was just happy I got in. Wherever the coach puts you, you've got to go in and help the team. My instructions were to go in and maintain possession and get some fouls. Obviously it [his impact] could have been better, but I was able to help the team out in that regard."

On getting the chance to play with Jozy Altidore again after the U-20 World Cup.
"It was great. It's been a long time and to get a chance to play with him again was great."

Tim Howard

On the 2nd half altercation away from the ball and if any real blows were landed.
"No, he slid in and.. it was really nothing. He thought it was clean, and I thought it was a foul. We wound up on top of each other and it's a typical US, Mexico game. Two players wind up on top of each other, we're not getting off easy so.. It was a little bit of a scuffle and push, that's all."

Mouth guards for High School soccer - are you kidding?

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:08:00 +0000

From the “You have got to be kidding me” department, this is just shocking. Will the ignorance to our game by sports administrators ever come to an end? The Virginia Beach schools Superintendent thinks all soccer players should wear mouth guards.

If you don’t want there to be precedent for this, I hope you’ll join the fight against it and voice your opinion to the school ASAP – there’s even a petition.

The need to clearly communicate to teammates on the field at all times is essential to playing the game properly. So much so, that not being able to yell “Man On” is probably more dangerous to players than any risk of mouth injury. If you’ve ever been tackled from behind unexpectedly, then you know what I’m talking about. I’d rather get a bloody lip than a broken ankle!

To me, this requirement is the equivalent of asking football players not to tackle, or telling basketball players they’re not allowed to jump – communicating on a soccer field is that important.

In 30 years of playing 2-3 times per week, I’ve NEVER had a mouth injury, or seen anyone on either team with one. I’ve broken a leg, sprained ankles, suffered hip flexors, pulled muscles, and had stitches on eyebrows four times as the result of head collisions. I rarely play an outdoor game without bleeding from the knee from sliding, or on the shins or ankles from being kicked.

In my book, introducing mouth guards for safety would have get in line behind having to wear full head gear, hip pads, knee pads, and never allowing anyone to slide tackle. It’s that silly of an idea when weighed against how it would inhibit the fundamentals of how the game is played.

If government officials really cared about safety, they’d take better care of fields and not expect us to play with rocks and 3-inch grass clumps. They’d also force home teams caught without anchored goals to forfeit. I hope you’ll get on the web, phone, and snail male and let this guy know you feel the same.

ESPN360.com

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:42:00 +0000

OK, so I had no idea I could get ESPN360.com free because I'm a Verizon subscriber, but turns out I can - and so can you. In fact, while investigating today's announcement by ESPN that they will carry the Italian Seria A and Coppa Italia tournament live on their broadband network, I was pleasantly surprised. The web site automatically recognized I was a Verizon (FiOS in my case, but I think even DSL will work for others) AND that I was using a Mac (Firefox browser for those who care). After about 25 seconds of download and clicking, BAM, I'm watching Atalanta v AC Milan live (oh, Milan just scored off a corner, nice!).

Don't have Verizon? Try AT&T, but word on chat boards is that Comcast doesn't offer this service.

Post a comment if you have any more information for others about requirements. I'd also like to get an idea of how many of our Potomac Soccer Wire readers watch this "channel", so we know if we should start including their broadcasts in the "Soccer on TV" sections of our web site and Newsletter.

Ebbsfleet United takeover approved, I'm a football team owner!

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Some of you may have heard about MyFootballClub, a 100% web-based consortium of football (soccer) fans that have joined together, paid $70 each and now voted to buy a real honest to goodness football team in the UK. All major decisions at the club will be decided by online voting of the members. Obviously this includes player signings and the like, but even more intriguing (and scary) is we'll actually vote each week on the starting 11 and what positions they'll play... Yes, really.

You can still sign up too. If you do, perhaps we should start a stateside fan club and have regular live meetings about club business! Sign up to be an owner here - http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk/

For those of you who would rather practice voyeurism living this adventure through others, I'll do my best to keep you updated here. If you do sign up, comment here or email me at Potomac Soccer Wire so we can form a D.C. ownership committee :-)

Here's today's announcement about the overwhelming vote approving the takeover:

Dear Hummer,

MyFootballClub members have today approved the takeover of Ebbsfleet United football club, the first website-community takeover of its kind in the world. Over 95.7% voted in favour of going ahead with the deal.

In the second vote, over 95.6% voted in favour of allowing Liam Daish to continue with any plans he has for the January transfer window.

This email has been sent to over 73,000 - which includes MyFootballClub members as well as everyone else who has expressed an interest in the venture since its launch on 26 April 2007. For those yet to join, now is a great time for you to become a member and share in the excitement from the beginning.

The near future
The next two weeks will be an exciting time on the website, so please be sure to visit regularly.

In the coming days:
Members will decide whether the club should employ a new kit manufacturer. If so, members will then be able to select home and away shirt designs.

Members will be invited to put themselves forward for the Trust Board. An article will be posted explaining the election process, and scoping out the role.

The team selector will be going live, so that people can start to familiarize themselves with it. As announced, members will start to control team selection in March 2008.

Years two, three and beyond
Around 1700 members have already committed to membership beyond year one, which is extremely promising.

All monies for subsequent years have been ring-fenced [escrowed] and will not be spent unless members decide to do so. If you are able to extend your membership now, it will help members and the football club look forward to the future with even more confidence.

Thank you,
The MyFootballClub Team

RFC is in the house - and other locals drafted today

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:41:00 +0000

And with the final pick of the 2008 MLS Superdraft, the Houston Dynamo just selected former Reston FC player and four year Midfielder for UVA Jeremy Barlow. I wasn't focused on the last pick, but was sitting here in the media room and all the sudden heard "Reston FC" over the sound system. Cool.

Naming the youth club from which player came from may have been new this year. I don't remember hearing that as part of player pick announcements from the podium before, but a year is a long time and I have a short memory for those sorts of details.

Anyway, let's hope it continues. I think recognizing the youth clubs where these new professional players learned the ropes is a great thing. A whole lot of people spend a whole lot of time and money on managing our youth clubs, and having that work be recognized and recorded in the league archives is a nice way to give credit where credit is due.

Here's a list of all players either from our area originally, or that played here:

Patrick Nyarko - Kumasi, Ghana - Virginia Tech - Chicago
David Horst - Pine Grove, PA - Old Dominion University - Real Salt Lake
Yomby William - Bafoussam, Cameroon - Old Domion University - Kansas City
Stephen King - Medford, NJ - University of Maryland - Chicago
Ben Nason - Stafford, VA - Virginia Tech - Dallas
Jeremy Barlow - Herndon, VA - University of Virginia - Houston Dynamo

Ali update

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:23:00 +0000

So did you hear the U.S. Women won again in China? With one game left, they only need a draw agains host China to take home the Four Nations Cup yet again. Our new best friend Ali Krieger went 90 minutes again, playing central defense. Things are looking great on that front - even though she expected to play right back mostly going in.

Nyarko goes a suprising 7th

noreply@blogger.com (PSW Editor) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:40:00 +0000

So, the first player EVER selected in the MLS Superdraft from Virginia Tech is headed to Chicago - a team already fat on young, promising forwards and a lot colder than the California or Texas locals most expected him to end up.
Patrick Nyarko left school early - even after saying he wouldn't - presumably assuming to be chosen at least one or two in the draft. He looked nervous as pick after pick went before him, and during his off camera interviews had trouble breaking a genuine smile for the first few minutes.
I wonder how much he was looking forward to playing for San Jose when he first decided to enter the draft, and although Chicago has a good team, a beautiful stadium, and great players, I can see how the cold weather and number of existing forwards on the roster might not be what Patrick was thinking.

He's still swamped by the media here in the press lounge, much longer than other picks before or after, so this is definitely a story line likely to be followed by many news outlets. Let's see if the questions I raised above are answered in the coming days. For now however, congratulations to the first Hokie ever selected in the MLS draft, and let's hope many more follow in this dynamic player's footsteps.