With Team USA flying high, US soccer fans are excited!
The football leagues in
Europe are either underway or getting there, but for Team USA something
far bigger begun this week, their 2010 World Cup
Qualification campaign. Off the mark, it has to be said that
the
USA
hasn’t
failed to qualify since 1986. Things were very different
then. In a move that still rankles with some American fans,
the United States Soccer Federation practically ceded home
advantage to
Costa Rica
in a vital qualifier by staging and marketing the match
almost exclusively for the benefit of the expatriate
population. The
USA
lost it and failed to qualify. Things have changed
dramatically for Sam’s Army since those days, and due to the
weakness of opponents in the CONCACAF region (and the
expansion of the World Cup finals to 32 sides),
Mexico and
the
USA
are among the first names that fans are penning into the
likely list of final qualifiers.
Having disposed of
Barbados
9-0 on aggregate in a qualifier, the
USA finds itself in a group with
Guatemala,
Trinidad
and Tobago and
Cuba. Last
Wednesday saw the campaign kick off with a laudable 1-0
victory in the Estadio Mateo Flores in
Guatemala.
A Carlos Bocanegra header in the 69th minute divided the
sides. Incidentally Bocanegro now plays for Stade Rennais in
France, Seb Le Toux’s old club, and before that played at
Fulham, one of Kasey Keller’s old clubs.
The match may be better remembered for the red cards. Steve
Cherundolo received his second yellow for a rugby tackle on
Fredy Garcia (and not a particularly good one) before
Gustavo Cabrera received a straight red just three minutes
later for approaching a challenge on Eddy Lewis with his
elbow raised. Lewis was gushing blood and needed stitches,
although replays confirmed that it had been a clash of heads
that did the damage. A home game against
Trinidad and Tobago
on September 10 is next up for the
USA. Two sides from this group will qualify for a final
group of six, from which three will go to
South
Africa. In Group Two,
Canada were
held to a 1-1 draw with
Jamaica at
BMO Field in Toronto. Deportiva La Coruna’s Julian de
Guzman, outstanding in their recent game with
Brazil,
scored
Canada’s
goal. Elsewhere
Mexico’s
new boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was said to be happy with their
2-1 win over
Honduras in
his first competitive game. The next game sees
Canada and
Mexico swap
opponents.
Meanwhile the nations of
Europe prepared for their campaigns with a round of friendlies. Of the big
four,
Germany,
Spain and
France
recorded victories over
Belgium,
Denmark and
Sweden
respectively.
Italy
astonishingly were 2-0 down to
Austria in
a match played in Nice. Then two own goals including a
howler by Austrian keeper Ramazan Ozcan procured them a
draw. Poor Ozcan had only just come on the field too. A
penalty from Bastian Schweinsteiger and a goal from Marko
Marin helped
Germany to
a 2-0 win over neighbours
Belgium,
France
won an entertaining match 3-2 in Gothenburg, and European
Champions
Spain
looked very impressive in their 3-0 humbling of
Denmark.
Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso netted twice with a goal from
Barcelona’s Xavi separating them.
In the match of the night,
Russia
and the
Netherlands
drew 1-1 in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. A 77th minute
penalty from Konstatin Zurianov prevented the Dutch getting
some measure of revenge for their European Championships
quarter final exit this summer.
On the UK front,
Scotland
and
Northern Ireland
drew 0-0 with substitute goalkeeper Alan MacGregor saving a
penalty for the Scots,
England
drew 2-2 with the
Czech Republic
at Wembley, and
Wales
lost at home to
Georgia. A
last minute equalizer from Chelsea’s Joe Cole saved
England,
after Marek Jankulovski had put the Czechs 2-1 ahead
three minutes after half time. Earlier Wes Brown with his
first ever international goal and Milan Baroš with his 32nd
had scored for their sides.
The real business starts in two weeks time with most sides
having two qualifying games in September.
France v
Serbia,
Croatia v
England and
Portugal v
Denmark all
on September 10 are the pick of the fixtures.
Italy begin the
defence of their World Cup on September 6th in
Cyprus.
Meanwhile in
Germany the Bundesliga has begun, and miraculously minnows
TSG Hoffenheim find themselves top of the league after
beating Energie Cottbus and Kasey Keller’s old club Borussia
Mönchengladbach. We couldn’t do justice to this incredible
phenomenon while covering the internationals so we’ve held
over our Bundesliga season preview to next week. By which
time they could be seven points ahead of Bayern Munich!
For a full list of Steve's soccer articles
here
We welcome feedback and comments on Steve's articles
|