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.
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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?
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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.
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The CONCACAF U-17 championship was canceled due to the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. It seems
like the right thing to do, but I was really looking forward to seeing the US youth match up
against our rivals to the south in the final. The rivalry between the two CONCACAF powers is
intense and it is good to indoctrinate our players at a young age.
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Well folks, the US has done it again. As you'll see in the right margin the US U-17 team has been
to every U-17 World Championship since FIFA started hosting the tournament in 1985 and this summer
will be no different. With two wins in the first two matches at the CONCACAF Championships,
currently being playing in Mexico, the US stamped their ticket to this summer's World Cup in
Nigeria.
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Right now I'm not sure if I should feel honored or ripped off. Or is this such a common theme that
anyone could be inspired to write about it? You see, today I went to ESPN.com and found this story
by Justin Rodriguez. Immediately I thought about the blog post I wrote regarding this team. I even
spread it out over multiple parts.
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The 2007 Nike Friendlies kick off tomorrow, 12-6-07, at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida. The US
U-17 team is split into the ‘92s and ‘91s. The ‘92s are playing against international
competition Russia, Brazil and Turkey while the ‘91s are playing against domestic opponents FC
Delco, Real Colorado and Vardar.
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You've already figured out that I can't keep up with the MLS Rookie of the week business. I'm
sorry, I really am. Today I am officially declaring that feature is dead. I gave it a good go but
it is too tough as the MLS season wears on and work gets busy. If anyone out there wants to join my
"staff" and take over the honor of scouring match write ups and trying to make an educated decision
on who the best rookie was this past week, please write me or comment below.
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The US U-17 Men's National Team didn't have enough in the tank to beat Germany at the U-17 World
Cup. Germany showed early in the tournament they were going to be a top team and they continued to
win, pushing the US out of the event.
I've got to think this is a major disappointment for US Soccer. This young team was seen as a
strong side going into the event but they stumbled early and couldn't recover.
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The US won't play until tomorrow and the FIFA U-17 World Cup quarterfinals are half set. The
biggest shock of the first knockout round? Brazil lost to Ghana, 1-0. The US knows all about
Ghana's senior team's quality but the U-17 team was able to surprise Brazil. This is the same
Brazil that went through the group stage scoring 14 goals. Brazil lost to England in group play so
we knew they weren't perfect, but getting shut out by Ghana.
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The US U-17 Men were able to beat Belgium this weekend to jump into second place in the group. They
will play against the winner of Group F, Germany, on Thursday. Way to go!!!
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The US U-17 went into the 2007 World Cup as the team with a lot of potential. They have potentially
great players. They could potentially make some noise in the knock out stages. They could
potentially win the whole thing. It isn't just me saying this. Worldwide media and FIFA were saying
it. FIFA went so far as to say the US is expected to dominate Group E.
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Ok folks, the first game of the U-17 World Cup is in the books. No, I didn't wake up to watch it. I
don't have ESPNU. But I did catch the last 15 minutes on match tracker. Isn't that just the most
fun...not. I wish all of these games made it onto the mainstream ESPN channels, maybe next
time.
This looks like it would have been a fun one to watch.
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This is a really interesting story. Danny Cruz grew up playing Hockey and Football. In-between the
two high school sports seasons he started playing soccer to stay in shape. Now he is on the U-17
World Cup team and going to UNLV to play soccer. He's certainly going to be one to watch.
This story will undoubtedly play into the arguement that American athletes are just good at sports
and can play any they set their mind to.
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US Soccer has had a very busy summer. The Senior Men's team played in two major tournaments back to
back, winning one. The U-20 Men played in their World Cup and reached the Quarterfinals. The Women
will be playing in their World Cup soon. Countless friendlies have gone in the books and some more
are coming up. 2007 has been the summer of soccer.
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I was not able to attend any of the SUM U-17 games up to this point, but from what I have seen in
the comments on my blog and on bigsoccer.com the event is going very well and there is some good
soccer being played. They're even attracting a crowd and keeping rivalries alive. The Rocky
Mountain Cup made an appearance at the Colorado "A" - RSL match Saturday, helping the U-17 Rapids
to earn a victory.
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