A Yiddo in NY

Kaboul

2007-07-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

New Spurs signing Youness KAboul looks to be absolute quality and will hopefully partner Dawson when King is gone (I only thing king ledley has a couple more years in him unfortunately). But Kaboul certainly looks to be given a harsh baptism as he will probably start the season with ledley out injured. I would not mind also selling Tony Gardner and bring in Curtis DAvies as Dawson may need a break from time to time and Rocha certainly has left most spurs fans wanting. Now lets keep Chimbo and sign a new left midfielder or bring Taraabt up to snuff and we should be good to go for a top for finish!

US Beat Brazil

2007-07-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so it is the under 20 level but I have to say that game made up a little for some of the crap football I had to endure yesterday. A few Points:

1. While Bradley may have been partially at fault for the Brazil goal, I thought he had a pretty good game, covered a lot of ground, and forced Brazil to play a lot of the longball game because Brazil could not get through Bradley and Szetela.

2. If you are wondering about Adu's and Altidore's transfer fee at the moment they are going up fast, also are zizzo's, Bradley's, and Szetela, I wonder how many salt lake fans are scratching their heads at Adu's performance.

3. Seitz is the real deal and hopefully he will be next in the line of quality keepers coming from the US

4. I thought Beltran was totally unimpressive for me on the ball and we were pretty wasteful in the attacking third but who cares we beat Brazil!!

US in Copa America

2007-07-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well at least the bright side is that the US finished in 12th in the oldest international tournament... o yea I forgot 12th is dead last. Now I know some other teams, like Brazil, send their second team to Copa America but there is a difference between the US and Brazil, Brazil's second team is still quality. I cannot see though why people, like Wynalda in his red card Yellow Card segment, put the blame on bradley, I think he did a damn good job with the cards he had, I have four other things I would instead like to blame:

1. Sunil Gulati: You betcha your the one to blame I mean come on if you want the US to become a world power then we need to stop only having our first team play worthless friendlies against week teams in the US. As with most things US Soccer, I look to the top and I have to think that you were basically making all of the decisions for the Copa America squad. I mean come on do you think a coach like Bob Bradley would really want to play a tournament with a week squad. Also, if Mexico could bring its first squad, full of European players, why couldn't we

2. COMNEBOL: I mean seriously who decides to have this tournament during the U20s and right after the Gold Cup where 2 of the naitons you invite have just played. Sure you can be angry at the US for fielding a C squad but I have to say that it looks like your federation is in decline

3. FIFA: You need to make an exception in the rule about clubs holding back players for when a naitonal team is invited to a tournament, If a naiton is invited to one of the major tournaments, they should be allowed to require a player to go

4. Landon Donovan: Get your head out of your hot wife's thighs, grow a pair and go out to play with your country for a major tournamnet

With that said, I thought a couple of people did quite well:

Guzan: Did well to save the penalty (even though he caused it) and looked much better in general than keller + hes young

Demerit: Could be a starting CB in 2010

Bornstein: Was on and off but did a hell of a job on Messi, just no more weak back passes

Clark: Will give Bradley jr and Mastroeni some real competition

Feilhaber: Really did well this tournament, I would ahve liked to ahve seen him against Columbia

Ngyuen: Did very well against Columbia, but pretty poor against Paraguay

2010 starting line up

2007-07-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

here is my 2010 starting line up:

------------Altidore/Ferrari------------
------------Dempsey-----------------
Beasley--Feilhaber--Bradley--Donovan---
Bornstein--Onyewu--Bocenegra--Simek--
------------Howard------------------

Bench: Hanemen-Demerit-Spector-Clark-Mapp-Ngyuen-Altidore/Ferrari-Johnson...

Of Course a lot of things can change between now and 2010 and for that reason I did not fill up the bench or pick between Altidore and Ferrari but tell me what you think if you agree and disagree. Also I think that this is also the US's current best line up with the exception of Ching for Altidore/Ferrari and Demerit for Onyewu. I am interested to see how this squad will grow, especially if several more players head over to Europe

US v Argentina

2007-07-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

After I first saw the roster for Copa America, my only thought was "please don't embarrass us in front of Argentina" and while the score line may not suggest it, our boys gave one hell of a fight as Ray Hudson would say, our underpups did us proud. In the first half, Bornstein absolutely made Messi his bitch and if Bradley had subbed him out at the half, he would be getting a lot of calls from Spain right about now. I'm going to go down player by player of what I thought for the players that played long enough to make an impact:

Kasey: Congratulaitons on your 101 cap but I think after Copa America your time for USMNT should be just about up, with Howard and Hanemmen (however you spell it) doing so well in the EPL

Jay Demerit: I would have to say that your partnership with Conrad looked much more solid then that of Bocenegra and Onyewu, It is a shame that Conrad is on his later years. You should definitely be in contention a the center back spot.

Conrad: You put in a good performance against a team that should have crushed you, it is a shame you are getting old

Wynne: While you were thrown into the fire and I give you credit for going (unlike Landycakes), you are just not good enough for the USMNT but hey you are a young kid and you have time to develop

Mapp: While you are a quality player and you played very well in some of the friendlies, you did not deliver the goods when it counted, I think that if you are looking to break into the USMNT you need to head over to Europe for some more experience as currently you have some quality palyers ahead of you at both wings for the national team

Feilhaber: While you did not have the best second half, almost all of the chances that we had were created by you and you definitely raised your value in Europe by quite a bit.

Clark: Was responsible for the first and third goal but I see you as a good squad player for the team but you need to pick up you pace some times and that probably means a trip to the Coca-Cola Championship

Olsen: A true professional out there, it is a shame you are on your later years

Johnson: Scored a goal but with his pace I would like to see him take players on more often and once again I think that means a trip to probably Holland as Altidore and Ferrari may be on their way to taking your place

Twellman: Granted he was up against Argentina but you could tell that he was out of place and just not doing anything

Gaven: Don't get me started...

Ray Hudson: Absolute quality, the best Color commentator in America, if you enjoy his comentating style

My views on the Gold Cup

2007-06-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

1. Benny Feilhaber and Michael Bradley are the 2 best central midfielders that US has and should have an ideal partnerchip by the 2010 world cup. Feilhaber plays a lot like Cesc Fabregas and Bradley plays a lot like Carrick excpet unlike Carrick, Bradley can tackle

2. Bob Bradley is the man for US soccer, the way he rotated the squad during the cup was absolutely outstanding, and his substitutions during the final were spot on and probably saved us from defeat.

3. Clint Dempsey is an absolute class player, and altough he did not show it in some of the later games of the tournament, I think that is due to the fact that when you have him playing in the withdrawn striker role, you need to have a quality striker up top, something the US does not currently have. The future does look bright though, if we can send EJ, Ching, Twellman, and Altidore to Europe to gain some real experience as the MLS clearly isnt the placew for an up and coming striker. Also, get Ferrari away from Rossi and Italy, while I do repect Serie A, I think La Liga and the Premiership are the place for our strikers to be at, and if they cannot get to those leagues, at least sign for a decent club in Europe where our strikers can work their way up to the premiership

4. I am not sure what Titus Bramble did to Onyewu but clearly Demerit is the much better center back at this moment. Gooch should fire his agent for sending him to the wreck that is Newcastle when, in all likelihood, he could have signed for Chelsea. We need to get Gooch to either Birmingham or a quality Championship side, like Charlton. And by the way, Simek should be the Us's answer for right back, get him into the Premiership!!

5. No question about it, Tim Howard is our number one, but I would like to see Marcus Hannemen get more call ups from Bob Bradley

6. While Landond Donovan may be a pussy, the US still relies on Beasely and him.

Tottenham Signings

2007-06-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

If you have not noticed, Tottenham have signed Gareth Bale, the young Whelshman and Darren Bent for a little over 20 million pounds here are my ideas for theses signings:

Bale- Gareth Bale played very well in the Championship but it is time to see if he will make it in the Premiership. To be honest, I am not sure if he has the right kind of build and physicality to be able to compete in the Premiership but at only 17, he has plenty of time to adapt. I prey to god the Martin Jol plays Bale where he belongs, at left back, and not put him at left midflield because he clearly is not the answer for that position (which I will get to later). Also, he brings some good left-footed freekicks that spurs desperately need. I think it is too bad that this may mean the end of 1st team football for Young-Pyo Lee as I thought he was one of the unsung heroes last season and hopefully he will stay on with Spurs. I think this means the end of Paul Stelteri's time at Spurs which is a shame, but YPL and Benoit Asou Ekotto will provide excellent cover for Chimbonda and Bale.

Bent- Many people have been critical of the amount of money that spurs have payed for Darren Bent but I think that is really not a lot considering that we have not touched the Mansion Poker money and it looks like Defoe and Mido are gone which will probably bring us at least 16 million pounds. Because Martin Jol likes to play a big man little man system up top, Bent can provide cover for both our little man, keano, and our big man, Berbatov, something Mido did an absolute awful job at. Also, Bent could team up with someone like Barcham for Carling Cup games, giving Berbatov and Keano a rest, and providing some good first team experience for some of our younger players

Left Midfielder- This is an importsnt position that we need to improve on. Playing Aaron Lennon on the left is not the answer!!! Currently I think our best option on the left is Adel Taarabt, not Steed Malbranque or Ghaly, as they both get caught up in posession and provide little in the attack. I would love to see us purchase a true left footed left midfielder in Morton Gamst-Pederson.

First Post

2007-06-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is my first post and I know that I have a lot to catch up on seeing as how the US has just played a couple of major matches and Tottenham have had some big signings as well but first I will tell you a little bit about the purpose of my blog:
1. I intend to treat this as a diary of sorts so do not expect perfect spelling of grammar.
2. I doubt that many people will find my blog so I will try to respond to as many comments as I can but i do have a life so I may not be able to respond or post all of the time

Ok that is just about it for now so it is time for me to post my first blog...