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DEL.ICIO.USTime for a new Rough Guide
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Off the Ball had no sooner been daydreaming about an oft-delayed trip to Barcelona than an e-mail from U.S. Soccer popped into her inbox as a holiday weekend beckoned, jolting her back into a unexpectedly blissful reality:
U.S. men set for October matches against Catalonia and Switzerland.
In Catalonia and Switzerland, mind you.
Catalonia? According to the USSF’s travel guru, “Catalonia is one of 17 autonomous communities within the Kingdom of Spain. Catalonia has a population of more than 7 million, with Barcelona serving as the capital. It is bordered by France on the north and stretches along the east coast of Spain to the Mediterranean Sea.”
In other words, it’s not a country. Although some beg to differ. But as her elbow-bending sidekick Marco Sloquinho the other day was reciting out loud the lowest-rated participants in the FIFA family of nations, neither are American Samoa, Guam, Timor-Leste and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This particular autonomous community, Catalonia, and a hotspot of seething anti-Franco resistance has long been at the top of Off the Ball’s list of places to visit. Las Ramblas, all-night tapas, very cool modern architecture and one of footy’s classic cathedrals, the Camp Nou.
This is where Bob Bradley will take his boys for an early fall friendly, followed by a game against the Euro 2008 co-hosts in a Swiss city to be named later. Travel and footy in Europe? Can it get any better than this? Which Rough Guide to pack? This one? Or this one? Both?
From a pure soccer standpoint, this slate is shaping up to be a rather ambitious first year for Bradley, who’s been given the “permanent” job — for however long that lasts. And it’s a necessary step in the first year of a new World Cup cycle.
The long drought in the Copa America is over, with the Yanks opening against Argentina on June 28. In what’s sure to be a fun new hostile travel destination for Americans — Venezuela. OTB likely will pass on this sojourn. But toss in a group with Colombia and Paraguay, and Team USA ought to have quite a rigorous time — hopefully on the pitch only.
On Thursday, Bradley announced his roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup, and it includes Atlanta’s own Ricardo Clark. Gotta think this is his best, and possibly last good chance, to make a serious stab at a national team career.
That tourney isn’t on the level of the Copa, and will be held here, but the stakes are higher: the winner gets a spot in the 2009 Confederations Cup, with the South American and European nations hate.
“We are absolutely set on trying to compete at the highest levels in both events,” Bradley said of the summer tourneys.
There’s also an August trip to Sweden. And on June 2, a home friendly against China. Three more years to the World Cup, but an obviously accelerated and intense few months looming ahead.
Most American media eyes are waiting on the arrival of David Beckham, but this summer will be hopping for more important reasons.
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Comments
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By Chris D'
May 29, 2007 9:37 PM | Link to this
Concur It will be a great summer of internationals for the US.
Don’t forget the under 20 World Cup in Canada this summer. The US has a chance of doing some serious damage in the tournament this year. Expect big clubs around the World to be watching to see which stars emerge. The future for US goal scorers looks very promising along with lots of depth in other positions.
By Chris D'
May 31, 2007 6:48 PM | Link to this
Henry,
Check out this article. It is up your alley. Below is an excerpt and a link. The big question is how would it get paid for.
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/articles.aspx?article=2266
“Top Drawer Soccer has learned that U.S. Soccer has discussed with a number of leading clubs the concept of an Academy level in elite youth soccer, with 60 to 80 clubs forming teams that would meet USSF criteria for training, competition and other areas, with participants competing against one another and eschewing many if not all the competitions club teams typically engage in.”
By Henry
June 2, 2007 8:24 AM | Link to this
Chris, one thing they answered to me about the English Soccer status. They don’t care for the game scores in their youth leagues. The result is the players than don’t care for the result when becoming a national player either. No wonder the English National Team stinks. That happened a few years ago with the German soccer. They decided to teach their kids to play Brasilian style soccer instead of the hard playing German soccer was known for. The result was that only Brasil could play the Bonito Game. Copycats wont make it. About forming a national youth club league is that the USSF will mess this one up to. Youth soccer supposed to be fun not professional. Many superb players will not join because there is no time left for other things kids like to do and in a couple of years they will be burned out and quit. It is already apparent in the USSF Premier league. Too much regimented practice and too many games on the weekends. In competitive soccer for players under 16 the best regiment is 2 practices of two hours per week and one competitive game on the weekend.
By Chris D'
June 7, 2007 8:06 PM | Link to this
Best piece I have seen on the subject. It is the first article I have seen putting everything in perspective giving a holistic view.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jonah_freedman/06/06/usa.summer/index.html
By Henry
June 8, 2007 8:03 AM | Link to this
Great Article but a little to opinistic. After watching last nights game our National Team is still stugling with the defence. Poor to be kind.