March Madness- Soccer Style!

Hi! We’re the Red, White and Blues Brothers and this is our color-coded U.S. Soccer blog. Chip writes in red and Danny writes in blue. We cheer for the U.S. and you better too! 

Yes, March Madness means it’s college basketball tournament time but in World Cup soccer, it’s taking on a whole new meaning. National teams from around the world will be playing a couple of qualifying games in the next few days but it won’t be until October that the final 32 teams will be set for The 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The casual fan might think it’s just a walk in the park and since we are the USA we will for sure be competing in the next World Cup. Well here’s a wake up call… six teams are left in the CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football of which the U.S. plays in. Only 3 to 4 teams will make it, and after our 2-1 loss against Honduras, the U.S. sits alone at the bottom of the standings. I think most experts predict the top 4 will be Mexico, U.S., Honduras and Costa Rica with Panama and Jamaica being eliminated. This is the Hexagonal and we hope the voodoo spells and hexes the witch doctors from these countries will most certainly be placing on our Yanks won’t hold us back.

Up next: Friday, March 22. USA vs COSTA RICA, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, (Denver) Colorado 8pm MST, 10pm EST, 9pm CST, 7pm PST  Watch on: ESPN, WatchESPN, UniMas
Follow on Match Tracker at ussoccer.com

The U.S. Report by Chip:
5,280 feet high... that is a lot of feet on a soccer pitch. The U.S. only needs 22 feet to get the job done against a Costa Rica team they should beat. We will most likely use 24 to 28 feet to get the job done, counting substitutes. Jurgen (our coach, not a baby food) has said that the connection between Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones is critical. I agree, but we also need someone to score goals. Clint will hopefully provide that, but maybe Eddie Johnson will get a chance to show his form? Or perhaps a Herculean (Gomez) effort is in store. Jozy would be a good late substitute in my opinion as he is playing well over in the Netherlands, but I am still not convinced he can play 90 minutes all out. He could be a good spark in the 50th minute I say. Or play him in the first half knowing you will have to sub for him in the 2nd half. I personally would go with Clint and Hercules as they seemed to play well together. Our defense needs to step up and play mistake free… easier said than done considering our last few games. Yeah, we shut out Canada, but that is like holding a S.A.Y team scoreless. Giving up 2 goals to Honduras is unacceptable, even on the road. To be honest, I don't even know who are defense is... Without Boca and Howard, we have NO experience in the back. They better learn quickly if we are to beat Costa Rica and Mexico in the next two games. If we can't beat Costa Rica, we may hear cries for Tab!

If you have no idea what Chip is talking about, allow me to translate…  Denver is 5,280 feet high. Many people think the U.S. Soccer Federation chose that location to help acclimate the U.S. players to Mexico’s City’s 7,200 ft-high Azteca Stadium where they will be playing on Tuesday against a much tougher Mexican side. It will take 11 players to get the job done, but they can use up to 3 substitutes in World Cup qualifying so there could be up to 14 U.S. players (28 feet) earning a cap (a national team appearance) on Friday. Jurgen Klinsmann is our German-born coach. Clint is Clint Dempsey, one of USA’s most prolific scorers who plays in England for Tottenham Hotspur. He has 11 career World Cup Qualifying goals but he is coming off a calf injury.  Hercules (yes, that’s his real name) Gomez has been a bright light in the U.S. lineup and has been scoring lots of goals for his Mexican team, Santos Laguna. Jozy is Jozy Altidore. S.A.Y. is Soccer Association for Youth. Boca is Carlos Bocanegra who was surprisingly left off the roster. Jurgen said Carlos is “not getting any minutes with (Spain’s 2^nd division) Racing Santander, so he has no flow, he has no rhythm.”  Howard is goalkeeper Tim Howard who is out with a back injury. I call it a back injury because the more accurate broken back description is just way too depressing. Tab is Tab Ramos who played for the U.S. team from 1988 to 2000. The cries for Tab won’t be for him to suit up, come out of retirement and get back on the field. They would be cries of sacking Jurgen Klinsman as the coach and putting the current U.S. Under-20 coach Tab Ramos at the helm to steer the U.S. ship through the rough Caribbean waters on the way to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

This is what soccer fans and analysts do. They argue and debate which 11 players should be playing. Here’s another point to consider. Tuesday’s game in Mexico is a much bigger challenge for the U.S. side. Four players are playing with yellow cards and if they pick up one on Friday they will have to serve a 1-game suspension during the Mexican game. Let’s hope we’re not without the services of Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu or Graham Zusi when we take on Mexico.

The Costa Rica Report by Danny:
Los Ticos (Costa Rica’s nickname and it’s not offensive) is ranked 53^rd in the world in the most recent FIFA football poll, but don’t let that number fool you. This is a very promising team and I can see them being one of the top 3 CONCACAF teams qualifying for the World Cup. On January 27 they defeated Honduras in the championship game of the Central America Cup of Nations. A week and a half later in their first game of the Hexagonal, they were 2 goals down against Panama and came back to tie them. Although they missed out on qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, they were there in 2002 and 2006.  Five players Americans might be familiar with are defenders Roy Miller from the New York Red Bulls and Bryan Oviedo from Everton, midfield/striker Bryan Ruiz from Fulham and forwards Jairo Arrieta from the Columbus Crew and Alvaro Saborio from Real Salt Lake. Ruiz and Saborio are probably their two most dangerous players.

Other U.S. Soccer News You Can Use:
For the casual fan or someone just looking to have fun in Denver this week, head on down to the Paramount Theater on Thursday, March 21st for a Pep Rally held by the MNT. That stands for Men’s National Team for those of you new to the game. And for those of you new to the game, don't look for a lot of goal scoring. Soccer is a beautiful game about flow and ebb. I know that sounds like two characters from a 1960’s sitcom, but it is how the game is won. Flo was a waitress at Mel’s Diner in the CBS sitcom “Alice” which was on the air from 1976 to 1985 and Eb Dawson was Oliver Wendell Douglas’ farm hand on “Green Acres” which aired from 1965 to 1971. Hey Chip, people wouldn’t have thought it sounded like TV characters if you would have used the more popular expression, “ebb and flow” but because you reversed it, I’ll have to admit, it does remind me of TV characters!  Allow the ball to flow on the field and the goal will come…maybe even 2 goals. Ebb and flow is a lot like an ocean scene if you are a beach bum or a swaying crowd at a country concert. Get the crowd swaying, get the team playing and cheer on the Red, White and Blue!

For the stylist out there, check out the new centennial kits to be worn for the first time. It is in celebration of 100 years of organized soccer in America. It seems to be a plain kit, but I will have to see it in person to decide. A “kit” is the term the soccer world uses for uniform, which includes the jersey, shorts and socks. It doesn’t include the shoes. That’s why you’ll see some flashy attention-starved prima donnas wearing fluorescent yellow boots (shoes, cleats, etc) when yellow isn’t even a color in their uniform.  Let us know here at redwhiteandbluesbros.blogspot.com  what YOU think of the kit and any other comments about the game, strategies and opinions you might have.
Go USA!