I mentioned in my last post, from a few weeks ago, that I recently became the proud parent of
twins. As they approach eight weeks of age I've slowly realized how completely they have changed my
life. Add to that the normal ebb and flow of life and my passion for posting to this blog has
diminished.
Well folks, you may have noticed a total lack of new content around here. My wife and I welcomed
twins into the family at the end of September and sleep deprivation has ensued. So, blog is not
getting a lot of attention.
But I do want to call your attention to this, the US U-17 Men kick off their World Cup in about an
hour and 15 minutes, at 1 pm central time.
Remember how the US can't field an entirely professional U-20 World Cup team like most of the rest
of the soccer world? Want to know more about those players joining the team from the college ranks?
Here you go: yanks-abroad.com has done an outstanding job.
No, this isn't college soccer related but it is music to my ears. I just got a press release from
MLS saying the following:
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced today that for the first time in
its history, MLS will not play League games during the group phase of the 2010 FIFA World
Cup.
Unlike the senior team, Coach Rongen is announcing his roster almost a month before the first match
of the U-20 World Cup. Yup, kick off for the Americans in this youth World Cup is September
25th.
GOALKEEPERS - Sean Johnson (Central Florida), Josh Lambo, Brian Perk (UCLA)
DEFENDERS - Gale Agbossoumonde, Kyle Davies, Jorge Flores, Ike Opara (Wake Forest), Anthony
Wallace, Sheanon Williams
MIDFIELDERS - Daniel Cruz, Mikkel Diskerud, Dilly Duka (Rutgers), Jared Jeffrey, Aaron Maund (Notre
Dame), Brian Ownby (Virginia), Dillon Powers (Notre Dame), Michael Stephens (UCLA)
FORWARDS - Sam Garza (Denver), Peri Marosevic, Brek Shea, Tony Taylor (Jacksonville)
I've highlighted the college players in the above list.
USsoccer.com announced the U-20 Men's television schedule yesterday. Here is the only problem, the
first game is on-line only.
9/26: USA vs. Germany - LIVE at 9:55 a.m. ET on ESPN360.com, 9:55 a.m. ET/PT on
Galavision
9/29: USA vs. Cameroon - LIVE at 12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, DELAYED at 5 p.
If so, go to the website: www.gousabid.com. Sign the petition.
Watch the video:
Pass it on...
I believe there is little chance that someone reading this blog would not have heard of this book
by now. Right? 1% chance. If in all honesty you have not heard of the book pictured above please
leave me a comment. Anyway, I just finished it and I am posting some quick comments for two
reasons.
Loyal readers and new followers...if there are any. For the past couple years I've written this
blog quoting some list, a database of players I keep. I've not really shared it with too many
people to this point thinking there is some proprietary knowledge held in it. Well, I've realized
there isn't.
Let's all be honest with each other, ussoccer.com got a little stale having not changed in a long
time. In today's instant info society it seems like some sites change once every two years. I think
US Soccer had fallen down and couldn't get up since back before World Cup 2006. Anyone
know/Remember the last update?
While most of the news these days is about David Beckham's return to MLS, the US' performance in
the Gold Cup and MLS' drop in attendance, I'd like to remind everyone that we still have the U-17
World Cup and U-20 World Cup coming up this summer/fall. As part of that, many college players are
getting some extra credit training in this summer.
For those who don't subscribe to the Rapids' Undercurrent Blog you will have missed this gem. Yes,
Zinedine Zidane just happened to stop by the adidas ESP camp going on here in Denver and actually
played with the All*Star team of the annual event.
This kind of blows my mind. Every summer the adidas ESP event is a premier invite only camp that
works with the best of the American youth soccer field.
It is sad to read about the demise of what I thought was a good idea. I had visions in my mind of
starting something similar here in Denver using the great Dick's Sporting Good Soccer Complex.
Unfortunately it looks like it is harder to make a go of than I thought. Bummer.
While this post won't be specifically about college players moving into the professional ranks I
will try to work the theme of the blog in here. However, I mainly want to get my thoughts on paper
regarding the US' improbable run to the final of FIFA's Confederations Cup.
Here is a question to the US soccer fans reading.
Climbing the Ladder has done it again. If you're not familiar with the blog, get familiar. Scaryice
rules that roost and is the best at tracking and analyzing MLS and US Soccer stats. Seriously, I
don't know any other blogger/writer doing what he's doing over there.
This time he's putting together college teams who have graduated and gone onto MLS.
