Posts Categorized as ‘Featured’

Featured, U.S. Soccer

About That Donovan Non-Dive (R.E.S.P.E.C.T.)

Tim Howard scored for Everton, which is the United States soccer story of the day. (And it should be. That was crazy.)

Had the American keeper not booted the ball 100 yards, however, you have to think we’d spend at least a little (read: too much) time discussing Landon Donovan’s non-dive in the first half.

If you haven’t seen the play, get to your TV at 8 p.m. tonight and watch FSC’s replay. Or just know that Donovan beat Sam Ricketts, who crossed behind the Everton midfielder and looked to trip him up… expect the referee did not agree and did not blow his whistle.

We don’t want to get into the “did or didn’t Donovan dive” discussion–although we’re inclined to agree with SBNationSoccer just a bit…–because there is a bigger point. (more…)

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Featured

Does Cabrera’s Departure Signal Nail in Coffin for Bradenton?

It’s always an odd thing for a coach who by all reports is doing well to depart mid-cycle. The U.S. U-17s seem to be on the up, having samba’d around Brazil to win the Nike Friendlies last month playing a brand of soccer that can only be described as aggressive and attractive.

Cabrera could be edgy and had his detractors, but by most accounts was doing a pretty good job. Now he’s out mid-cycle, reportedly by mutual agreement.

Put the pieces together and it likely means Bradenton’s done after this cycle.

The rumblings have been making the rounds inside the USSF for some time. Though officials won’t say it — Sunil Gulati staunchly maintained that there is no specific date to get rid of the program when I spoke with him last summer — you’d have to think at this point the deal is done. (more…)

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Featured, U.S. Soccer

Chatting with U.S. U-23 Coach Caleb Porter

Olympic qualification is more or less right around the corner (starting at the end of March) and U.S. Soccer’s preparations were in full swing this past week with a training camp in Florida.

I spoke to U-23 coach Caleb Porter for this piece giving a snapshot of where things lie with the prepartions for the CONCACAF Tournament in March.

There’s no question that there is plenty of talent to go around at this level, and that the U.S. should have little trouble making the Olympics. But you never know – just ask Thomas Rongen – how things can go down and the perils of qualification.

This camp wrapped up Thursday evening, and the schedule is for at least two, possible three more camps before qualification. The next one is going to be in January in LA, with a trip to Central America tacked on the end of it for a couple of friendlies.

Over the past two years I’ve talked to Porter a good bit, and he’s a very sharp guy. Here are plenty of leftovers from our conversation.

(more…)

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Featured, United States

Okugo’s Freiburg Visit Maybe More Than Training

At the U-23 camp in Florida, Amobi Okugo says his recent training stint in Freiburg could turn out to more than just a visit, and Freiburg coaches told him they’d be speaking with his agents. The Union midfielder also revealed that unlike other trials in Germany recently arranged for USMNT players, it was the Bundesliga team that asked him to come in after seeing him in games with the U.S. U-23 team.

“After our last camp in Duisburg, Freiburg asked me to train with them,” Okugo said. “So I trained with them before the Generation Adidas trip, and that went really well. It was a good week, a great experience.”

After the training period, Okugo says Bundesliga coaches said they’d like to see more of him. (more…)

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Featured, South of the Border, U.S. Soccer

Red-Carded Restrepo May Be on To Greener Pastures

After receiving a red card in America de Cali’s crucial away match in the Colombian league playoff against Once Caldas, Diego Restrepo is unsure of his future. The former UVA and U.S. U-17 national team player was sent off late in the loss Thursday night, and his team immediately conceded two goals, and was eliminated.

“For 70 minutes I was man of the match, I was playing really well,” Restrepo said. “And then I had a little bit of a cramping problem, and the referee thought I was wasting time, and gave me a yellow card. Like five minutes after that, there was a through ball and I came out and unfortunately I took out the forward, and he gave me my second yellow. Then they scored two goals right away, it was a tough match.”

Restrepo won’t be available on Sunday when America travels to Boyaca to take on Patriotas in the home and away dual for survival. That may give a chance for a debut to America’s other American ‘keeper, Kevin Piedrahita. (more…)

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Featured, United States

Di Vita Jensen Takes Off At Honefoss

It’s been a long time coming for Kenneth Di Vita Jensen. Just 21, he’s been a pro for six seasons and counting, and finally taking a leading role at his club, scoring seven goals across competitions this year to help lead Honefoss back to the top level in Norway.

But that hasn’t led to a look from U.S. Olympic coach Caleb Porter, despite Jensen’s declarations that he’d like to play for the U.S. after representing Norway at the youth level. USA1oKit caught up to Jensen after his successful campaign, to talk future plans and Norwegian soccer.
10Kit: Tell us about your background as a player — how did you develop as a youth player and what has been your course until now?

Jensen: I started playing when i was a little child, and have always played since. It was at the age of 13, I realized I really wanted to become a football player when I grew up. So I trained hard everyday with my youth team, one or two trainings a day, and kept getting better and better. (more…)

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Featured, MLS

USA10Kit Roundtable: MLS Cup Final Predictions

The long road has finally reached its end, and on Sunday, the 2011 MLS Champions will be decided.

It’s sure to be a close match, with a plucky Houston side battling the Galaxy on its home turf at the Home Depot Center.

LA has it all, the star power, best statistical defense in the league, and seems to have finally got the mix right under Bruce Arena this season.

With another cup final to predict, the 10kit

(more…)

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Featured

Semi-Final Qualifying Groups Could Mean Trouble for Region’s Powers

That time is approaching once again: the most haphazard, Russian-roulette phase of the CONCACAF draw. If the federation backed down from the ledge of the proposed two group final qualifying round, and kept the much loved hexagonal, it retained the most dangerous phase of the previous plan: the four-team group semifinal stage.

So here we are again, six games to finish first or second. Sound easy enough, right?

On paper, sure. But if history is any lesson, this is not nearly as easy a task for the regional powers as it seems. Both Mexico and the U.S. have come agonizingly close to being eliminated at this stage in this century. The U.S. nearly got the axe in 2001, and Mexico was ever so close the last time around to not even making the Hex.

So what’s up? It turns out there are two small problems with the 12-team semifinal round that can wreak some havoc: 1. it’s hard to play on the road in CONCACAF, and 2. there aren’t really 12 half-way decent teams in the region, more like ten. Add that to a small, six game sample, and you’ve got the recipe for a giant slaying. The formula is very simple: (more…)

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Featured, MLS

Houston, LA Advance to MLS Cup Final

If you blink, you may have missed the MLS Playoffs.

Sunday’s Conference Finals eliminated Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake in two close and thrilling encounters. It set the stage for an All AEG Final, a point really being knocked home on the Monday after. In the span of roughly twelve days, ten teams have been whittled to just two remaining.

LA took one step closer to finishing the season out the way it envisioned, as the Galaxy will host the MLS Cup Final on Sunday, Nov. 20 after this weekend’s international break. Standing in their way is the Houston Dynamo, after a solid 2-0 win over Sporting KC.

Here are my thoughts and observations from each game: (more…)

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Featured, United States

A Few Notes on the U-23/20 Camp; Including ‘Where’s Hurzeler?’

I spent the (late) afternoon talking to some people around (generally not in) U.S. Soccer about what is essentially an U-23 camp in Germany, as  I suggested it would be on  Monday.

-Seems the U-20 is in there mostly to include a few players that need some meaningful training (Omar Salgado) or haven’t spent much time in the national team program, but should in the future (Jose Villarreal). There also may be a factor of apologizing for the absence of U-23 coach Caleb Porter, who couldn’t make the camp even though he’s the guy at the head of the team.
-Overall the roster is a pretty good mix of the best young American talent across the continent, some competitive young players from MLS whose teams aren’t involved in the playoffs, and Joe Corona.

-Speaking of Corona, (more…)

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