Posts written by Jon

U.S. Soccer, United Kingdom

Dempsey-Gazing Provides New American Pastime

There’s a new event that has sports fans in the United States buzzing with excitement. It performs especially well in the coveted males 18-49 demographic, and its numbers see a high spike among those who identify themselves as casual or passionate fans of soccer.

Gather ’round the tele, kids. It’s time for some Dempsey-Gazing.

As you probably already know, Clint Dempsey is having a fantastic season in the Barclay’s Premier League with Fulham. As his goal tally continues to rise faster than the price of unleaded gasoline, fans and members of the media speculate more and more and Dempsey’s future.

You may have heard he has one more year left on his deal with the Cottagers, but he’s said hoping to play Champions League football. Fulham’s options appear to be sell him this summer and reap a financial gain or keep Dempsey another year and then lose him on a free transfer.

Dempsey has also said he’d prefer not to relocate his family. This has led many to conclude that Dempsey is bound for Arsenal, Tottenham or perhaps even Chelsea this summer – a prospect that seems to have the American soccer community in a tizzy. (more…)

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United States

Power of 10: Mystery and Intrigue

While some aspects of the 2012 MLS season are starting to come in to focus, others remain obscure. There seem to be two teams that are way ahead of the pack, two more closing in on those frontrunners and then a bunch of question marks. And then there’s the Los Angeles Galaxy, perhaps the biggest enigma of all.

But this feature discusses the top 10 teams, and we’ve done what we can to carefully select that group. The gap between some numbers (from 4 to 5) is much larger than it is for others (from 9 to 10).

Interesting times, to be sure. On to the rankings:

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United States

Saturday Superlatives: Putting All Our Eggs In One Basket

With seven games today, thanks in part to no MLS matches on Easter (and we again applaud MLS for not going up against ridiculously big national sporting events…this makes most of the Final Four and the final day of the Masters they’ve avoided) MLS teams were determined to put the ‘super’ back in ‘superlatives.’ Not really, they were probably just trying to perform well and win games, as the vast majority of players are probably completely unaware of this blog much less this relatively new weekly feature, but there were still some super moments. So here are our picks for April 7: (more…)

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United States

Quakes-Caps Provides Chance For Surprise Teams To Make Case

The weekend’s marquee MLS matchup, Los Angeles Galaxy’s visit to Sporting Kansas City, is getting all the hype of this week’s build up, but there’s another fixture that, like the teams featured, is flying under the radar.

The San Jose Earthquakes are tied for second place in the West with the Vancouver Whitecaps just behind in fourth. They’ll meet at Buck Shaw Stadium at 4 p.m. Pacific.

The Quakes and Caps are two of the league’s surprise teams at the dawn of the 2012 campaign, with both showing marked improvement from poor campaigns last year. There’s plenty of skepticism about how much of a threat both teams really will be in 2012, though, since much of their early success has come against some of MLS’ lower-tier clubs. The match on Saturday could give fans an indication of which, if either, of these teams are for real or if they’re set to fall to the bottom of the table as the season draws on. (more…)

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United States

Real Salt Lake Doing Enough To Get By

Real Salt Lake is expected to be one of the best teams in MLS this season, and so far they’ve lived up to those expectations.

Their record is blemished only because of a home loss to Chivas USA by a goal. Yet while the Royals look to be among the league’s elite, they haven’t been winning pretty.

Wednesday night they denied the Montreal Impact a chance to build their MLS point total after winning a penalty kick early, converting it and holding on for the one-goal win. (more…)

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MLS

Power of 10: Movement in the Middle

As we continue to figure out who’s going to be elite and who’s going to be middling during this MLS season, we see a decent amount of movement in the power rankings again this week.

What we are seeing is a clear leader in the clubhouse emerge (appropriate for Masters week), but there aren’t a lot of other teams who seem to want to convince observers of the league that they belong in the top tier. And just when you’ve left a team for dead, they end up in the top 10 and make you reconsider.

Anyway, on to this week’s rankings. As usual, hurl insults at us in the comments.

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MLS, Weekend Review

Saturday Superlatives: What Raised Our Eyebrows Most On An Eyebrow-Raising Day

It’s that time of night again. All the MLS games are over. If you’re on the East Coast, you’re idly surfing the Web in hopes of finding something better than going to bed. If you’re out on the Left Coast, you’re debating whether or not you’re off to do something social or if you’re going to join your East Coast brethren in dreamland.

But better than any of that? A look at all the best from the day that was in MLS. Yes, my friends, it’s time for some Saturday Superlatives.

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United States

10Kit’s Top 10: Some Favorites from the Week

Here are 10 of our favorite pieces of writing about soccer from the week. There’s so much good stuff out there each week, and this list isn’t trying to be all-inclusive. With that said, please feel free to tweet suggestions @USA10Kit or at me during the week or just post a comment here – even if you’re just pimping your own blog.

Leander Schaerlaeckens at ESPN on why Hans Backe has kept a relaxed attitude despite New York Red Bulls’ uninspiring start

Michael Lewis at Tropigol reposts his 2010 story on Cubans who defected during tournaments in the United States in the wake of a defection in Nashville this year

Brian Phillips on Grantland asking if Peter Crouch is better than we all think he is

Brian Straus of Sporting News about why the U-23 elimination might not have surprised Jurgen Klinsmann

Neil Davidson from the Canadian Press on Brian Rowe’s life as one of MLS’ reserve goalkeepers

Jack Bell on the NY Times’ Goal Blog about Jesse Marsch’s unique challenge coaching Montreal

Duane Rollins at The Score’s Footy Blog writes about the potential of a U.S.-Canada rivalry breaking out

Rob Smyth for Life’s a Pitch on Leon Britton’s quiet excellence for Swansea

Jonathan Tannenwald from Philly.com on the task ahead for Freddy Adu upon returning to a struggling Union team

Dirty Tackle’s Brooks Peck with another intriguing installment on Andrei Arshavin’s odd life. This time he’s in a small accident and gets a grapefruit for his troubles

 

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USA10Cast

USA10Cast: Noah Davis on the U.S. U-23s’ failure to qualify for the Olympics

Noah Davis on the U.S. U-23s’ failure to qualify for the Olympics by USA10Cast

Noah Davis stops by the 10Cast to share his insight on the U.S. U-23s’ elimination from Olympic Qualifying in the group stage, which he covered in Nashville.

He tells us if there are any positives to be taken from the debacle and discusses whether or not Caleb Porter has a future with the team. Like the team itself, this podcast starts off full of talent with plenty of encouraging signs. Will it crash and burn a third of the way through as well? Listen and find out.

The new, fancier player wouldn’t work this week for some reason, so we’re kicking it old school with the wave form widget. Retro, baby.

 

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Africa, United States

Bob Bradley Update: Egypt tops Uganda in friendly

For a moment it looked as though Bob Bradley’s already voluminous troubles as manager of Egypt would be increasing, but Egypt scored a goal in the 60th minute and another in stoppage time to come back from an early deficit and win their friendly match with Uganda, 2-1, Thursday.

A defensive gaffe in the first half put Egypt behind in the 35th minute as center back Mahmoud Fathalla struggled to deal with a tame long ball from Uganda. He inadvertently played it past veteran Egypt keeper Essam El-Hadary and Fabian Derrick Kizoto was able to beat the keeper to the ball and put it into the back of the net.

While Egypt had been the better team all game and continued to have chances, that goal stood until the 60th minute when Mohamed Salah was the recipient of a superb pass from Shikabala. The young talent (who will be on display at the London Olympics if you’re looking for somebody to follow) took one touch to settle and slotted the equalizer into the back of the net. (Video at bottom of post.)

It appeared the teams would split the reward, but Bradley’s side got a little bit of the luck that has eluded them so frequently in 2012. Egypt earned a corner in stoppage time and took it short. Mohamed Aboutrica rose above the pack and scored a header from the resulting cross to secure the win for Bradley and company. (more…)

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