What are the odds Fernando Torres outscores Wayne Rooney on Sunday? Derek McGovern's
Bets of the Day
Fergie has promised Dimitar Berbatov that he'll get some games this season – presumably Call
Of Duty for his X-Box and Grand Theft Auto for his PlayStation. The only reason the £30million
Bulgarian loafer hasn't gone down as the worst buy of all time is a man called F.
Yes, the transfer rumor treadmill reached an obnoxious pitch right before international
friendlies & European qualifiers pitting sharks against minnows. Yawwwwwwn. But don't
worry the first few weeks of the European season have breathed life into some of my favorite blogs.
And these links should put a smile on your face.
About 20sec into this clip --which is quite possibly the greatest Women's soccer mixtape of all
time-- we see Hope Solo on a treadmill with a face-mask then a quick cut to a shot of a control
panel of some sort that measures God knows what. It's all very intense and basically proves that
Hope Solo is the Ivan Drago of Women's Soccer.
July saw Kevin Hartman named MLS's MVP of the month. He follows that accolade with an inclusion
into our MLS Legends feature. The 37-year old currently leads the league in minutes, and we caught
up with Kevin on the way to practice. He told us all about his stock portfolio, and how he's
managed to have such a long career.
What more could you want? Stuart Holden and an ANTI-GRAVITY TREADMILL. How cool does that sound?
Very cool. Anyway, I've mentioned this contraption before as both Holden and Ricketts are using it
as a part of their recovery. It basically allows the players to rebuild their muscle memory (and
muscles themselves) with minimal stress on the joint.
We were all disappointed when Sam Ricketts ruptured his Achilles last February. It's no secret
that our squad has the depth of a kiddie pool, and Ricketts was starting to look quite good as
well. Well that was four months ago, and while Sam has made a lot of progress, thanks to an
interview with the official site, it's clear he still has a long way to go.
The U.S. team hit the weight room (and the treadmill, re: Becky Sauerbrunn above) at the team hotel
this morning for its final weight training session before opening the tournament on June 28 against
North Korea. Here are some images from the morning workout.
A U.S. player does sit-ups on the patio outside the weight room with the Austrian Alps in the
background
Ali Krieger tosses the medicine ball
Abby Wambach squats some kilos
A few summers ago, at the height of Florentino Perez's powers, I wrote a few posts about the
excitement of a new era. However, I also saw the signs of treadmill wear & tear the looming"bust"
after the bubble burst. Sticker shock therapy loomed.
Then came Mou, but I also saw some conflict.
Ya'll know the drill with these tournament theme songs! They're supposed to be inspiring, full
of cheesy lyrics and at the same time, great to push you on the treadmill. Diego
Torres, who is a Grammy Award-nominated singer from Argentina, was asked to write the
theme song for this year's Copa America tournament, which will be held in his home
country in July!
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America writes of the potential return to form of Charlie Davies, as well as
his arrival with D.C. United.
Charlie Davies says he needed a change in scenery, and he thinks he's found it at D.C. United,
which he joined on loan from the French club Sochaux on Wednesday.
Beeeeeeeeeep!A day of fitness testing is in the books for the U.S. WNT and the rest of the camp will be
focused on, as Pia Sundhage said in the first team meeting, "play, play, play." But after a morning
of VO2 Mac testing on the treadmill, the U.S. team hit the field in the afternoon for its usual
quartet of timed 20 and 40-yard dash, agility test, jump test and Beep Test.
U.S. fitness coach Dawn Scott guides Jordan Angeli thorugh the VO2 Max
Today is a day of physical testing for the U.S. WNT. In the morning it was the VO2 max, which saw
every player in camp take their turn on the treadmill in the team hotel. Most players expressed a
bit of awkwardness at wearing the mask necessary for the test, but despite the fact that it looks a
bit funny, the information garnered is extremely valuable to the U.
In the middle of September I stopped drinking alcohol. I haven't totally quit - since that time
I've had about one drink a month, centered around the holidays or the occasion of seeing an old
friend for the first time in a couple years. But I haven't felt good after any of them, and they've
served mostly to remind me why I quit in the first place.
Members of the U.S. team stop for a pic during a short walk to stretch the legs after a long
flight
The U.S. team arrived in Chongqing, China on Saturday morning (China time) after traveling from
Los Angeles via Beijing and by all accounts, it was one of the smoothest trips to China the U.
Antonio Valencia looks to return to training earlier than expected. He has finally stopped limping
and is making rapid progress. It seems Valencia has benefitted from the underwater treadmill
designed by NASA. He has been taking part in revolutionary ‘water torture' sessions at Manchester
United's Carrington training ground.
