So, the Portland Timbers want Mixx Diskerud. They should. He is, after all, one of the most promising players in the USMNT pool. I am sure if they had their way, most of the teams in MLS would be salivating after Mixx. The only problem with those teams wanting Mixx is that he is Mixx Diskerud potential USMNT player and they are teams in MLS.

Do not get me wrong here, I love MLS; however, it is not a blind love. Perhaps, someday in the future players of Mixx’s caliber – you know, those fringe international guys – could make a name for themselves in MLS and still thrive at the international level, but that time is not right now.

Mixx Diskerud is a finesse player. He can make that pass, or hit that shot. He can pull a defense out of position only to elegantly pass the ball away to another player. That is not what would happen in MLS, even if Caleb Porter’s hypothetical 4-3-3 – you know, the formation that we don’t even know if it’ll translate into the rough, rugged world of MLS.

Listen, Jurgen Klinsmann has made it clear that he would prefer his American internationals to play outside of America. There is a reason why Geoff Cameron and Tim Ream headed for the hills as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Hell, even George John and Omar Gonzalez gave it a go. There is a cause for USMNT fans taking vague, unsubstantiated rumors and linking Graham Zusi, Brek Shea, and Juan Agudelo to foreign teams. There is a basis for people showing a bit of disappointment when Matt Besler re-signed with Sporting Kansas City.  There is a motivation for Freddy Adu looking for any life raft out of MLS.

Truthfully, some of this is the fault of Heir Klinsmann. Jay DeMerit could possibly be the best of the old guard American center backs still playing today, but he plays for the Vancouver Whitecaps; meanwhile, Carlos Bocanegra is starting to look out of his depth, but since he is playing internationally, he is called in while DeMerit is left in the cold Vancouver nights. Argue as you will that Vancouver is a second-rate MLS team all you want, but I find it tough to believe that Racing Santander – currently sitting in the 21^st spot in Spain’s 22 team second division – is a better place to play.

Boca is nearing the end of his international career, perhaps of his soccer-playing career, and he knew that a potential move to MLS probably would have cost him any shot in Klinsmann’s squad. So what would happen to a young player like Mixx Diskerud, a player at the very beginning of his USMNT career, if he came to MLS? Would Klinsmann see this as a challenge? He is constantly saying that American players should challenge themselves. And, in his defense, since that statement had been made we’ve seen Michael Bradley thrive at a European giant, we’ve seen Clint Dempsey move to a top 4 side in England, we’ve seen Jozy Altidore become one of the more sought after European goal scorers.

I will be honest, I do not know a whole lot about Norway’s top division, but I would imagine that a team like Rosenborg is a step up from most MLS teams. It is definitely a step up from Portland – despite Portland’s potential to do much better this year. And maybe, like with Freddy Adu back in the summer of ’11, Klinsmann would be on board with Mixx coming to MLS. However, if you look at what has since happened to Adu you have to be concerned about Mixx. Diskerud and Freddy Adu are very technically sound, and even somewhat tactically aware, creative players. Could they thrive in MLS under the right circumstances? Maybe. But if they end up in a poor situation (see: Feilhaber, Benny and New England Revolution) it could snuff out any chance for Mixx.

I want players like Mixx to play in MLS. I want a player of Diskerud’s talent to be common in MLS. Nevertheless, we are not there yet. In theory, I want Mixx in MLS. I think he could up the level of competition, play, and overall style. I would love to see his flash and flare become what is commonplace. In real life, I do not want him in MLS, because I want him on the national team. As of this second, I am not sure I can have one with the other.

But what about Donovan? Donovan is an outlier. He is also a much more known commodity to the USMNT and Klinsmann than Diskerud. Think of the MLS players that have played impactful minutes since Klinsmann took over the team. They are few and far between: Rogers, Zusi, Shea, Beckerman (do not get me started here), Cameron, and I guess Eddie Johnson. Rogers moved on. Cameron is thriving. Agents, fans, and dreamers continually link Zusi and Shea overseas. Beckerman…well, moving on.

Eddie Johnson seems to be the only MLS player who tried the path of moving to Europe, failing spectacularly, returning to MLS and getting another shot with the national team. Meanwhile, outside of a few meaningless friendlies, the two other players that hoped to restart their international careers by coming to MLS – Feilhaber and Adu – are not making the team.  Is Johnson another outlier? Perhaps.

Yet, Diskerud is not Feilhaber or Adu. They both had established, or at least semi-established, positions before coming to MLS. He is not Donovan. He is still the talisman of the USMNT. He is not Eddie Johnson. He is an older player who saved his international career by coming back to MLS.

Diskerud is a new breed. He has no truly known spot on the USMNT roster.  He is an up-and-coming player. He is fringe at best. He has never played in MLS.

So bully to Portland for going after Mixx Diskerud. It shows that they are ambitious. It shows that Caleb Porter has brass balls even to think it is a possibility. Nevertheless, a move to MLS could spell the end of Mixx Diskerud’s international career before it even started. Either that or it could spring forward a new age of MLS greatness. Klinsmann could take back his comment about challenging yourself with bigger clubs. Terrence Boyd, Joe Gyau, John Anthony Brooks, and other young, fringe, potential USMNT stars could join MLS. Tim Ream could return from the wilderness. The Scandinavian leagues could start to look like a poor move. And monkeys could fly out of my ass.

In a few, #Mixx2PDX could make sense, but right now, it is nothing more than wishful thinking. Maybe someday it will not, but right now, it is only a dream for Caleb Porter, Merritt Paulson, and Don Garber.

Stuck in a rut.

That is where the United States Men’s National Team seems to be right now. Since 1990, when the USA first started regularly qualifying for World Cups, there has not been too much of a worry about qualification. Every USMNT head coach has been able to do it. Several of them have done it more than once. Yet here we sit, just prior to the Antigua & Barbuda match in qualifying, and supporters are concerned not about qualifying for the World Cup but about qualifying for the Hexagonal in order to qualify for the World Cup.

Similarly, the political process of electing a President of the United States is also unfolding. It is being argued that it is a cultural war. It is an end all be all and the United States could collapse into another Civil War depending on whom wins the election!

Both of these could very well be an overreaction. After all, US supporters like American political prognosticators are some of the most contradictory, jealous, over-reactionary people in the world – and I mean that in the best way possible.  Looking solely at the soccer-angle, as I oft do on this site, US supporters have turned our eye  towards our head coach with questions about his tactical acumen. And we find ourselves face-to-face with the would be hero who was going to revolutionize soccer in the United States: Jurgen Klinsmann.

Yes, that Jurgen Klinsmann. He knew the system. He knew the player pool. He knew our domestic league. He knew what it was going to take to raise the USA to the level of a top 10 team in the world. Meanwhile, under his watch, many are now worried that we are not even a top three team in CONCACAF.

Change is never easy, especially with a ravenous, self-conscious fan base who expect nothing but Spain-style greatness from a national team that just does not have the players to master it. Even if we could master the death-by-passing style of Spain, would it really work in CONCACAF? Sure, we have beaten Mexico and Italy under Klinsmann. Yes, we laid a ridiculous smack-down on Scotland. Yet we have also suffered through plenty of loses and ties to, what essentially should have been lesser, CONCACAF opponents.

In the ages of Global Positioning Satellites,  we sometimes plug in a location and think the directions are wrong. We have driven to these spots for years, but the GPS tells us to go a different route. But we ignore our instincts and listen to TomTom. It is the same in politics as it is in soccer. Our brains have shown us how the top 20 teams in the world win, so even if we have won in another manner for years, we want to try that other way because it seems right.

But here’s the thing, and I am not the first to make this argument, winning in CONCACAF is tough. Packed middles. Hard elbows. Dirty plays. Flopping galore. Klinsmann may have thought he knew what he was getting into when he  signed up, but apparently, he did not. We have seen some great passing sequences and possession, but that is not what is causing the US to win the games they have won.

Looking back to Italy and the “historic” win in Azteca, it was the Bob Bradley defend-like-your-life-depended-on-it-and-hope-for-a counter-attack-then-hold-on-by-the-seat-of-your-pants tactics that our minds have told us is wrong which won those games for us. Neither of those victories were possession based, not even close. We ignored the GPS. Klinsmann, like so many politicians, may have realized that sometimes the GPS is wrong.

However, the argument then comes that the reason we did that is because those were superior opponents. That even the best teams in the world, when faced with a greater opponent (i.e. England’s win over Spain a few months back), defend and pray for the best too. Yet, the US should dominate with their new, improved possession-based program when facing minnows.

This has not happened. It is easy to possess the ball when a team is sitting back. It really is. Just look at the first 60 or so minutes of the Jamaica game in Columbus. Our problem is finding that missing final pass. We were supposed to be done with relying on over-the-top passes and set-pieces to score, right? But we are not. Klinsmann’s USMNT squad might be trying to move soccer forward in CONCACAF (except when playing Mexico), but everyone else is just trying to win. So, perhaps, the way that the US is relying on scoring in CONCACAF qualifying may be proof not that Klinsmann is tactically unaware, but that he has “figured it out”. That he has been willing to change, even if the change is not beautiful.

Look at what happened in the first qualifiers against Antigua and Barbuda. The first goal was from Carlos Bocanegra. It was not built by a series of strong passes, but rather by a set-piece. The corner came in, Gomez got a foot to it, Boca put away the rebound. Sounds very Bradley and Arena-esque doesn’t it? The second goal was from a Clint Dempsey penalty kick. The final goal, there was a mess in the box, Herculez Gomez and Michael Bradley almost crashed into each other, Gomez got a foot to it, the ball was deflected off a defender, and then Gomez got another foot to it and there was a goal.

For Guatemala the sole goal (if you ignore the one that was scored by Jozy Altidore bullying his way through the defense that was called back) came from an awkward Clint Dempsey shot that was about 16 yards out. Again, no build up. Jamaica in Jamaica there was another Dempsey shot from distance, set up by a Gomez shot on goal that also was scrapped out instead of gorgeously created. The next game against Jamaica the US actually did control possession and had several series of beautiful passes, yet the goal came from a free kick. A free kick? A FREE KICK! Sure, a goal is a goal, but aren’t we supposed to be playing like Spain, or at least Germany, by now? Hell, most of us would even take playing like England at this point.

Where are our  passes from the wings? Where is the build up that was promised? WHERE IS OUR BEAUTIFUL GAME? YOU SWORE, JURGEN! YOU PROMISED!

Still, the US is not completely out. To most other teams in the world, the response should be excitement. But we are not looking to just qualify. We are not happy that Klinsmann has, sort of, figured it out. After all, he promised change. He promised hope. But now he is the soccer-equivalent of Barack Obama, but with better results (more on that later).

We all thought, nay prayed, that Klinsmann would put it together. Meanwhile, the newest roster – even before all the injuries – basically told us that we would continue  to play without wingers. It basically screamed, “Width? We don’t need no stinkin’ width!” And honestly, as unfortunate as that sounds, it might be the correct answer. In UEFA or CONMEBOL or really even the AFC, the game is usually different. Unless it’s not. But this isn’t there. THIS IS CONCACAF!

This is part of the reason Jozy Altidore has not been called in. He has been thriving at AZ Alkmaar with service from the wings. Klinsmann needs a target man, which Jozy technically is, but he is not an English-style bang the ball up to his chest and let him hold it target man. He now seems to prefer the ball played to his feet. Who in the US pool could play him the ball to his feet from the wings? Brek Shea? Maybe. Chris Pontius? Could be. Fabian Johnson? Probably. Josh Gatt? I honestly do not know. Jozy would probably thrive in the system that Klinsmann promised when he was hired, but that style has only been seen in small doses, not for entire games.

Jonathan Sykes brought it to my attention the other day via Twitter that Klinsmann may just be Barack Obama: a great idea man, who could theorize in with the best of them. An idea man. Someone who was a great thinker. However, when these theories are put into practice, he has realized that everything is not as easy in real life. When Barack Obama was elected he promised hope and change. He saw the way that American politics worked, he thought he could change our way of thinking, he was going to make us more respectable in the eyes of Europe. Then he actually realized what the job was. He became downtrodden. It now appears that everything is pretty much the same. Right down to the whiny constituency. Like Obama, Klinsmann has needed to adapt, and now those adaptations are making those who were never on board say, “See, I told you so,” and it is also helping him to lose the base who are starting to say, “Hey, this is not what you promised!” Sound familiar?

But here’s the thing, Obama might lose his job, but the country will still exist. If Klinsmann, who has arguably adapted better than Obama to his team’s struggles – which are partially due to his own making –cannot make the Hex, let alone the World Cup, heads will not roll. Sure, Klinsmann might be fired, but the rest will be fine. We will get a new coach. Perhaps a Jason Kreis or a Martin Vazquez or a Sigi Schmid, who are all supposedly insider, but just like Klinsmann they will probably not lead us to winning the World Cup. Just making it, which should still be the goal.

I’m not ready to concede that Klinsmann will lose us the Hex, or even a World Cup bid for that matter – though check with me again Saturday morning to see if that is still the case. Even with the injuries and the odd inclusion of Alan Gordon (who oddly enough may be a better fit for the style Klinsmann is playing as compared to Jozy who would have been a better fit for the style Klinsmann promised), I believe the USMNT should still qualify. I’m also not ready to give up on Klinsmann’s plan…yet. I just realize that the plan, which ironically I was never on board with to start with, has been changed.

Jurgen Klinsmann is not who we thought he was, but this team and player pool is exactly who we thought they were. Perhaps this is why certain players have not been integrated into the squad. Klinsmann is still our driver, and he has not lost the direction. He’s just had to readjust the GPS.

American soccer fans are tabloid journalists reporting on child stars. If there is one thing we love, it is building up our young players and then watching them crash and burn. We do it all the time. After all, what is more interesting to watch than the crashing and burning of someone with a big ego – even if it was us who created that ego to begin with?

Granted, we still hold out hope that Freddy Adu will reinvent himself a la Neil Patrick Harris. Harris, the child star who donned magazine covers, could not make it big in movies, then became a scene stealer on a much smaller stage, is a career path that Adu could follow. Adu, of course, is the child star who donned Sprite commercials, could not make it in the big world of European football, and we are all hoping he becomes a scene stealer in the much smaller world of MLS.

Like with Doogie, there are those of us who still hope he will turn into a superstar on the biggest stages of the National Team, but there are also those who hope he crashes and burns from his current level of success. Yet, it was us, the fans along with MLS, US Soccer, and even Pele, who built up young Adu. We gave him his alleged ego. He was always good, but never great. Thus is the case for many a young soccer protégée and many a child actor as well, but even with slight failures not everyone completely crashes out.

Landon Donovan, American soccer’s Drew Barrymore, is an example of this. Like Barrymore, Donovan was built up huge at a young age. He was placed on a pedestal. Yet, when the pressure came, he flailed out in Germany. Now, he has risen as one of the top players in the American pool. No, he’s probably not going to ever win the Ballon d’Or, just as Barrymore will probably never win an Oscar, but he made it, as did she. Yes, like critics and tabloid editors, we still complain that he will never be big in Europe and she will never be an Oscar-winning movie star. Then he goes and does well at Everton and she releases Riding in Cars with Boys, but it will probably never be good enough.

What about Clint Dempsey? He is our Robert Downey Jr. who became a star a little bit later, then much, much later became an award nominated superstar. Of course in this analogy you’d have to ignore Downey’s drug fueled haze of the late 80s and early 90s, but you get the idea.

Want more? Charles Renken? He is Haley Joel Osment – big potential followed by a ridiculous amount of big budget, high concept, busts; or in Renken’s case injuries. Marcus Tracy? He is our Macauly Culkin – always more hype than actual talent. The list goes on, and on, and on of players we build up to watch crash and burn.

Like film and television critics, who want talented young actors to turn into stars so they can say they knew it would happen, American soccer fans want our young players to be successes. Also like those critics who get some sort of perverse joy out of the latest young Hollywood stars drug problem, American soccer fans also love seeing the egos we gave our would-be superstars exposed and shattered; which brings us to Jozy Altidore.

Jozy, who is seemingly our Mickey Rourke, has still yet to live up to our expectations despite success. Rourke was a huge star early on. A handsome leading man, but when he really made it, he fell off the deep end. He became a bare-knuckle boxer, uglied up his mug, and after spending some time wandering the Hollywood wilderness, he later reinvented himself as an Oscar nominated actor. Now, following his big award winning role in The Wrestler, Rourke is having difficulty not being type-cast as a struggling fighter or drunkard. And despite his success he is just not getting what he deserved as the matinee idol that everyone thought he would be.

Jozy was the MLS wunderkind. He made the jump to Villarreal – who were formerly the third best team in Spain’s La Liga before being relegated this year. Jozy even had to deal with unflattering comparison to Giuseppe Rossi, his own Johnny Depp-like nemesis. He became known more for head-butting players while at Hull City, which uglied up his reputation, than he did for his play. He seemingly wandered from club to club never gaining any traction, but still starting game in and game out for the National Team. Now he has reinvented himself as a big time player for AZ Alkmaar, but can not seem to get past being labeled – I’d argue incorrectly – as a center/target forward, which is costing him a shot to succeed with the USMNT.

Like with Rourke, some are really enjoying watching as Jozy suffer through a non-call up. Some are concerned, as were some when Rourke’s sanity seemed to completely derail,  but others seem to be happy. “He has never been as good for the USMNT as he has for his club,” they yell. Just as some will claim nothing Rourke has done since The Pope of Greenwich Village has been any good, and that he just got lucky with The Wrestler. We love watching them fail. That is why people were happy at Rourke’s relative failure with Iron Man 2, which was only a failure compared to the other Marvel films. People talk about how horrendous Jozy’s been and for the USMNT and that’s why he isn’t being called in. This despite him not being nearly as bad for the National Team as people think he is. He has been decent, not great, for the USA. The real problem is he never lived up to our expectations of him, which may have been too high to begin with. But we do not see that.  We claim it is about ego, but it was us who built the scapegoat ego up to begin with? And maybe, in all honesty, it is ego. But is it his ego or is it our own?

So what happens to the next flock of young soccer players who come through the youth system? What will become of Junior Flores? Will he be the USMNT’s Leonardo DiCaprio or will he be their next Kirk Cameron? Is Ben Leaderman on a Ryan Gosling-like trajectory – relative unknown to huge star – or will he be Todd Bridges? What about Terrence Boyd? Would we be perfectly happy if he ended up being Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Elijah Woods as compared to the entire cast of “Saved by the Bell”? Would that be good enough?

We are not the only country to have our “future” players fail in spectacular fashion. However, we are so starved for that first world-class player – you know, the one Adu was supposed to be – that even relative success by young players is cause to celebrate and overhype (see: Agudelo, Juan and Johnson, Eddie). American soccer fans have built the cost of our young players becoming stars to an unfathomable, unreachable level, just as young Hollywood actors are pushed, prodded, and primped by parents and producers to become the new “it” actor. The pressure is there for both, the hype is there for both, the creation of ego is there for both, and this is why a good handful of them burn out early never to either act or play soccer again.

But in both categories some make it. Some go on to be pseudo soccer stars, and some child actors work in Hollywood for years after. Right now it is more the child actors who have moved on to better things – minus the occasional Lindsey Lohan – and the young soccer protégées who are still having trouble adjusting. So as our child actors improve, hopefully, our young overhyped soccer players will as well. Maybe if we give them far more realistic expectations, we can get the soccer equivalents to Jodie Fosters and Christian Bales. That has to be the next step, right?

The hype is there. It will always be there. We need to slow down our own expectations to realistic levels, otherwise, we will continue to watch our young stars fail and burn out on unnecessarily over-inflated egos. Perhaps, someday expectations and reality will meet, and we will get a young soccer players who is an analogous to Elizabeth Taylor, but for now I’d be perfectly happy with one Shia LeBeouf.

Hank and Abram talk about Wondo’s spectacular season, USMNT possible call ups, the situation in New York, and try to figure out what exactly David Downs stepping away from NASL means for the Minnesota Stars.

Listen|Download Here

Hank and Abram talk MLS MVP, the power of marketing behind Thierry Henry, USMNT Qualifiers, Cameron playing out of position, all things Sascha Kljestan, NASL playoffs and expansion, if CONCACAF Champions League even matters, and if AEG’s sale could hurt MLS in CCL.

Listen|Download Here

So, American soccer fans, let’s all take a moment to sit down. We need to talk.

Something weird and unexplainable is happening. Something we never thought we would have to worry about. Something that we have yet to be forewarned of. Though the rumor mills and speculation machines had us all believing a move was inevitable, Clint Dempsey is still playing — or at least on the roster of — Fulham.

We have all heard the rumblings. It was Champions League or bust for Deuce. You knew it. I knew it. He knew it. It was time for the big show. Months later, with less than a week until he is going to need to start mending fences with Martin Jol, Dempsey is playing with the Fulham reserves. It is a bitter pill to swallow. It is bitter to you. It is bitter to me. It is bitter for Clint Dempsey. But it is time to admit that maybe, just maybe, Clint Dempsey is going to stay at Fulham.

In actuality, American soccer fans, there is nothing wrong with staying at Fulham. Unfortunately, our expectations were raised so high that we thought there was no way he would stay at that club. Truthfully, Michael Bradley’s move to AS Roma may have helped in setting the bar way too high for Clint Dempsey. Bradley is younger and plays a more technical style than Dempsey. When Bradley quietly made a move to one of the biggest clubs in Italy, we figured that Dempsey was sure to find his way to a Champions League side in England. However, if a Champions League side wanted him, he’d probably already be there. And, American soccer fans, our boy is still in Fulham.

But why does this non movement seem much more painful? Good things have happened in this window, American soccer fans. In addition to Bradley’s move, we need to look at Geoff Cameron playing well for Stoke. Jozy is still continuing to light it up with AZ Alkmaar. Terrence Boyd has found first team minutes. Even Villyan Bijev has found a way to get time by being loaned out to Norway from Liverpool while awaiting his work permit.

Yet we are not looking at that. We are used to being kicked around as a big nation full of potential that cannot ever put it all together. So instead of our successes, we are self-consciously and hyper-vigilantly focused on Clint Dempsey’s non-movement from Fulham. It is a failure in our minds, American soccer fans. There is no success without Clint moving. He must move!

After all, when our best baseball and basketball players ask for trades, they are gone. When our best gridiron players holdout, they are rewarded with new contracts or new teams. Meanwhile, Dempsey who is one of the best American field players ever is unmoved; and frustratingly, we are having to watch as his manager and home crowd turn on him. What does that say about us that our star is sitting still with everyone turning on him?

This is not how we imagined it. We saw him strutting out opening day of the Prem in an Arsenal shirt, or at the very least a Liverpool one. He was going to start. He was going to score 20 goals, plus another 3 in Champions League. Now we are wondering if maybe he is just not good enough. We are at the realization point that if he does complete a move to a big club he may not be a star. He may even *gasp* have to come off the bench as a substitute. Are we willing to accept that, American soccer fan? It seems as though we’d rather panic, freak out, and get images of Clint Dempsey the homeless soccer vagabond than imagine him not moving!

The thing is with Dempsey, this is the first big time transfer saga we’ve seen play out. This is the first time we have been dragged with our guy. This is the first time we’ve seen our name dragged though the mud. Anti-American cheers from Fulham fans are hurting our soccer pride. This whole thing is new to us. Bradley moved softly to a big team. When Jozy moved it was not a big deal due to it not being in a top 4 league. But Dempsey had been in a big league, possibly the biggest. And when he requested the move he did it like they do things in his native Texas: biggly, brashly, and boldly! Now we all sit and wait.

And as the realization sinks in that he may not move we worry. But should we? After all, there is nothing wrong with being a star on a mid-table team. Yet now we worry if he will still be a star on Fulham. Will his fans forgive him? Will Martin Jol let him back on the roster that easily? Will he have another big season? Was last year his pinnacle?

So, American soccer fan, you are worried. I get that, so am I. And I’d bet so is Dempsey. But this is the transfer season. Dempsey is, as said by many, breaking new ground in American soccer. He’s playing with the big boys and playing big boy transfer ball. He’s ready for the move, but are we ready for him staying where he is? Hopefully, we won’t have to find out.

But we better prepare anyway.

Among this weeks links, a look at the case of Eric Frimpong a former UCSB soccer player. Frimpong has, perhaps, unjustly been serving time for a 2008 rape conviction.

For Kicks & Giggles is a series here at Viva la Futbol, which highlights some of the top football blogs that I have found over the course of each week.  If you would like to see your blog added here, either send me a shout on Twitter @MindOfAbram or an email to Viva.La.Futbol.Ahora[at]Gmail[dot]com.  These lists will feature between 8 and 11 blogs, videos, or various web related things at least every other Friday.

The Politics of Soccer

• Exonerating Eric Frimpong<< Joel Engel
• LA Galaxy in 2012: On Parity and Defensive Fallacies<< Zack Woosley
• Hooliganism, soccer riots, and the American media<< Abram Chamberlain

Soccer in Photos

• Fútbol: Feb. 7th, Photo & Video<< varelaromero

Soccer and Community Improvement

• Help Children in Haiti Receive a One World Futbol<< Chris Singer

Soccer & Satire

• Major League Problem- My MLS Journey Gets Back On Course << Jimmy Stone

Improving Soccer in America

•  3 Steps MLS Can Take to Be More Competitive in the Global Market: Fan View<< Lana Bandoim
• #Soccersoapbox Summary – ‘Soccer & Social Media’<<  Soccer Speak USA

The Mainstreams Misunderstanding of Soccer

• The Puzzle of Two Footballs<< Roger Cohen
•  UPDATED: CNN Suspends Roland Martin for David Beckham Super Bowl Tweet<< Gay 4 Soccer

By this point I’m sure that everyone has heard about the “soccer riot” in Egypt. Somewhere between 74 and 80 people have died, nearly 1,000 people have been injured, and former USMNT coach and current Egyptian National Team coach Bob Bradley was involved in a march to support the protesters.

Why do I know that most people have heard of this “soccer riot”? I know this because it was all over the American media.  They absolutely made sure that it was heard about.  This wasn’t sold as a political uprising.  At first it wasn’t mentioned that security locked the people in the stadium like caged animals at a dog fight.  There was no mention of the constant political upheaval in Egypt since the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak. No, this was nothing more than another “soccer riot.”

If there is a term I dislike, it is “soccer riot”.  When the streets of Vancouver were ablaze following the Canucks loss to the Bruins last year, it was not referred to as a “hockey riot“.  When the 2010 Greek basketball championship between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos had to be called off due to fans rioting, it was not looked at as a “basketball riot“.  When Victoria Snelgrove was shot by the police in 2004 following the Red Sox ousting the Yankees and making it to –not yet winning– the World Series, it was not called a “baseball riot“. However, when violence broke out in Egypt –a country where far worse bloodshed has been breaking out regularly for awhile now– the media immediately calls it a “soccer riot” without looking further into the contributing factors until days later.

Considering that several major radio show hosts have said that soccer is not a real sport (Chris Russo) or that it is not for real athletes (Jim Rome) it is odd that they enjoy showing the carnage that happens at soccer games and blaming it on the game.

There is almost an ignorant thought that in other sports violence begets the sport.  The thought is that violent, drunk people attend games ready to fight and use the sport (baseball, basketball, American football, curling, volleyball, cricket, chess, etc.) as an excuse to exorcise their violent venom. Yet they also seem to believe that soccer begets violence.

People have seen Green Street one too many times.  They think that the racist attitudes in soccer only exacerbate the situation. Perhaps, they –wrongly– think that since soccer is for wimps, and nothing interesting happens, the watchers of the game must act violently for any real action to take place.

Then when the violence happens they can flash it all over their television stations as if to say, “see we told you, this is what soccer does.” They run it at the top of 24-hour news stations to say, “soccer is only about hooliganism.”  They talk about it at the bottom of the hour saying, “soccer always leads to violence.”  But they never look deeper.

But what is it about violence that surrounds soccer that makes journalists separate it from the violence that surrounds every other major sport.  This past weekend there were two large sporting events happening.  First, of course, was the NFL’s Super Bowl.  The second is a derby match between West Ham and Millwall (the clubs who’s firms inspired Green Street).

Luckily, neither the Super Bowl nor the West Ham-Millwall match was followed by widespread violence.  But if they had been, one can only imagine that the Super Bowl would have been sold as “a celebration that got out of control,” whereas the other would be called “a violent soccer riot.”

Of course there were several arrests at the Super Bowl, but West Ham and Millwall did the unthinkable to curtail violence at a sporting event: they did not allow individuals who appear drunk to enter the grounds, but further than that they did not even sell alcohol on the premise of Upton Field. Imagine if the City of Indianapolis said no to liquor sales at the Super Bowl? That event would be pulled and moved before the first line was painted on the field.

Alcohol plus sports rivalries tend to always equal trouble.

In 2008 a Yankees fan ended up ramming her car into a group of Red Sox fans.  The fans were mocking her, at a New Hampshire bar, and she drunkenly thought she’d teach them a lesson by murdering a few of them.

Then there is the more recent 2011 case of Bryan Stow who was beaten outside of Dodgers Stadium following a Los Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants game. Again a group of drunken fans decide to get into a fight with an opposing fan, and they end up putting him into a coma.

And who can forget the Artest Malice in the Palace of Auburn Hills?  One more time a drunken fan tosses something at a player, the player responds –immaturely, and a brawl breaks out.

Yet none is viewed as a baseball or basketball murder, attack, or riot.  Instead they are looked at as drunken fans acting stupidly because of a sport, not due to the sport. For some reason soccer gets a special place.  In Simon Kuper’s Soccer Against the Enemy, he interviewed an Argentinian general.  Upon learning of the books theme the general sarcastically responded, “Soccer and politics! What an original theme!” (208).

Soccer has it’s own place. It is more important in the rest of the world, not just more popular.  Closer border, religious turmoil, and racial clashes all carry into the soccer pitch.  These issues exists out of the realm of soccer, but these arenas serve as a place where enemies end up on top of each other.  It is, perhaps, a European thing not a soccer thing.  And without looking at the actual causes of “soccer riots” the American media is, perhaps purposefully, being disingenuous.

Are they trying to scare Americans with soccer riots? Are they trying to insult the rest of the world, because at least ‘Merica doesn’t do this? If the latter is their goal they are more foolish, because at least there are true causes –outside of alcohol– for soccer violence where it is just the sport’s rivalry that seems to cause it in basketball, hockey, throwball, and baseball.

I just hope that as more comes out on the Egyptian riot –not “soccer riot”– it gets just as much attention as the “soccer riot” did.  After all, 70+ people died and they deserve the truth of the situation to come out. Even if it doesn’t fit the American media’s story-line.

Nationalism is, perhaps, the biggest aspect in supporting a national team.  So when a player denies, or is perceived as denying, his or her heritage it seems as if a nation turns on them. However, players’ national acknowledgements and identifications do not necessarily make them Benedict Arnolds. Even if that is the storyline that supporters groups are trying to sell.

There are no words that irk American supporters more than the combination of Giuseppe and Rossi.  To some, even mentioning the New Jersey wunderkind’s name  is akin to burning the American flag.  He is one of the top strikers in Spain’s La Liga.  He’s been featured on the cover of ESPN:The Magazine  ­–meanwhile, Lionel Messi can’t get the American cover of Times­– as the most important American during the 2010 World Cup, while playing for Italy.

Rossi was not discovered by Americans.  He was instead passed over by many clubs due to the fact that he was not an athletic player.  Luckily, at age 12, he was offered a spot in the academy of the Italian club Parma.  From there he went on to Manchester United and Villareal.  So the American soccer establishment did not recognize him, because in 2000 they were still looking for athletes as opposed to soccer players.  He never played in an American youth national team, yet people think he sold out his country.  After all, he’s American! He still comes to New York and New Jersey in the summer.  Add to that the position the USMNT is struggling at the most is forward and the vitriol grows continually harsher.

But he never expressed interest in playing for the US. Rossi lived in New Jersey until he was 12, in a household full of Italian immigrants.  The idea of playing for Italy was probably always with him.  In my own childhood, growing up close to dozens of Brazilians, the dream of many Brazilian-Americans that I played throughout middle and high school with was  always to play for Brazil’s national team not America’s –something that US Soccer needs to face and change– so I would imagine the pressure to play for Italy was similar for Rossi. Subrtract his time training with Parma and instead place him in Red Bull Academy, or DC United’s Academy, or the New England Revolution Academy and suddenly we’d have to wonder if he would even be the player we pine and opine about at all.

Rossi made his choice for Italy early on, never even teasing the US.  Americans despise his success, label him a traitor, but he is still an American doing great things in a top three foreign league.  It’s time for us to move on and celebrate his accomplishments as an American abroad, even if he won’t ever play for America.

In an almost reverse role of Rossi there is Lionel Messi.  Messi played minimal youth soccer in his home country of Argentina.  Yet unlike Rossi people in Argentina recognized his talent.  Born lacking certain growth hormones, his childhood club and parents split the cost of the therapy to replace them.  When the costs of this hormone treatment grew too much for his parents and youth club to afford, Barcelona came in took over the payment and happened to get the best footballer of his generation.

Some supporters of the Argentinian National Team have still not forgiven Messi.  They refuse to absolve him for doing what he needed to do to literally grow up. They are mad because he apparently chose life over playing for a big Argentinian club.  They remind him as much as possible that he is no Maradona.  They attack him outside of Buenos Areas nightclubs.

In the Argentine footballing culture, the supporters want their national team players to have come through the youth systems, played for Boca Juniors, then go to Europe, then lead the national team to glory at World Cups and Copa Americas.  Messi skipped the first few steps, and thus far, has not lived up to the second half.  He only leads his European team to European titles.  He has, in many opinions, done nothing for Argentina.

But perchance the supporters are putting too much blame on Messi.  Unlike Rossi, Messi has always said he wanted to play for the Argentine national team.  He went back to play for his own national team, despite the fact he could probably have qualified to play for Spain as he had been in Spain for five years before getting his first call-up to Argentina’s U20 squad.

Then there is the instability of Argentina’s FA and national team.  If people think the US’s team has no style, they should look at Argentina.  A nation that’s coaching carousel has made the style change so much that there almost isn’t one at all.  And even if there was one without the talent that Barcelona is able to afford Argentina can’t put Messi in a style that meshes with his ability.  Yet, the supporters blame him.  They blame the “Mercenary, Catalonian,” which they called him during a draw with Columbia.

They too need to realize that Messi is happily Argentinian, just as culturally Rossi is as American as Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey.  Messi is a player who’s game grew in Spain, who was able to receive the medical treatment he needed in Spain, but comes home to play internationally for country who only wants to abuse him.

American supporters always see the shoe on the other foot, but they too have stolen players.  Tab Ramos, Thomas Rogen, Stuart Holden, Teal Bunbury, and more recently a slew of German-Americans (Among them: Danny Williams #6, Timmy Chandler #2, pictured left).  And while none of them, so far, have been to the level of Lionel Messi, they are receiving some of the treatments that he receives when he plays for his native country.

The term African-Germanicans, while originally used jokingly, has seemed to become a pejorative term.  Nearly everyone has heard or read Preston Zimmerman’s Tweets on the subject.  People are saying these German players are “less American,” when they had fathers who served in the United States military is about as anti-American a statement as can be made.  And the fact is, no matter what the GOP wants, we do not live in an isolationist society.  We have our clusters of communities of Mexican-Americans, Hatian-Americans, Cape Verdeans, Irish-Americans, and Italian-Americans, but are they any less Americans because of the hyphen?

We have army bases in Germany, Japan, throughout the Middle East and Africa.  The makeup of multicultural societies, like America and Canada –who have lost Owen Hargreaves, Jonathan De Guzman, Sydney Leroux, and are possibly losing Junior Holliet, make losing players easier.  But it also makes gaining players easier as well.

It is time to get over an aversion towards dual-nationality players.  We can cheer on Rossi while playing for Italy –unless he is playing against the USMNT.  Argentinians should celebrate the accomplishments of Messi –even if he will never win them a World Cup.  Americans should welcome Germans to their squads –even if they don’t speak the de facto language.  And while even I feel the pains of Canadian supporters who lost Teal Bunbury and Sydney Leroux, they need to come to terms with those decisions as well.

When a business person moves from one country to another and makes millions of dollars, then vacations back in his or her home country people still accept his or her money.  People are still happy that their country produced the mind that created the inventions or business plans that made the millions.  Celebrate your citizen’s success, at least until their succeeding against your team.  Then, and only then, is it okay to jeer.

For Kicks & Giggles is a new series here at Viva la Futbol, where I will be posting some of the top football blogs that I have found over the course of each week on Friday.  If you would like to see your blog added here, either send me a shout on Twitter @MindOfAbram or an email to Viva.La.Futbol.Ahora[at]Gmail[dot]com.  These lists will feature between 8 and 11 blogs, videos, or various web related things at least every other Friday.

NBC Sports Network << NBC Sports Talk on David Beckham

NBC Sports opened this week.  In addition to some great advertisements from them, they have showed us some random MLS things sprinkled in with their other sports.  Here Grant Wahl discusses David Beckham not signing with PSG and most likely returning to Los Angeles Galaxy.  Nice to see NBC start strongly with their MLS coverage.  Now if they could only improve their website’s coverage.

The Free Beer Movement<< The Free Beer Movement “Person of the Year” is…

The ever entertaining FBM awards its “Person of the Year” to the most deserving American soccer candidate.  I would doubt that the competition was stiff, especially since the winner is the first person you think about when your mind ponders to football and beer.  Unless of course you’re thinking of that other guy, who ironically was not even nominated.

Soccer Speak USA<< US Soccer fans encouraged to write and tweet to personalize the message and #growthegame

A new favorite among soccer blogging websites for me, the site goes on to discuss the seeming lack of respect that the media gives to the game.  However, he continues to let readers know that the media, like the fans, want soccer to grow.  Great piece, which is proven by the aforementioned NBC coverage of MLS.

ESPN<< Moneyball comes to AZ Alkmaar

Yes at the end of the MLS season I wrote a piece on moneyball in the league, but Leander Schaerlaecken shows that it is being used by people who actually affect the game –as opposed to a very bored blogger.  Wonder how AZ Alkmaar sits at the top of the Eredivisie? It’s mostly because Earnie Stewart has taken Billy Beane’s strategy and translated it into football.

Sounderatheart.com<< 2012 MLS Strength of Schedule: The Unbalancing Act

Speaking of statistical analysis, Sounders at Heart breaks down the new MLS unbalanced schedule to see who has a the easiest and toughest schedule for the 2012 season.  The inclusion of mileage and opponents points per game last season lead to the conclusion that we probably all knew: the Western teams have it harder.  Either way, a fascinating breakdown.

Continuing with the money theme we move over to Examiner.com to see that when players travel to American to play soccer, bringing with them entire families, only to find out that contracts can be voided after 6 months it has to be shocking.  That is what happened to the New England’s Rajko Lekic.  And while most Revolution supporters want the club to #GuaranteeLekic, L.E. Eisenmenger is giving us the low down on this horrendously amateur tactic used in a major league.

MLSSoccer.com << Did eliminating Tampa, Miami save MLS?

Though MajorLeagueSoccerSoccer.com usually comes across as nothing more than tactically driven league propaganda, Jonah Freedman makes the argument that killing soccer in south Florida may have been a kill one (or two) to save twelve type of move.  Interesting that this article comes out as Orlando City SC is starting to look like a true contender for the team 20 spot; however, I find it difficult to argue with the logic.

Viva La Futbol<< The blind ambitions of a feeder league

I’m allowed to include my own stuff here, right? A –not so– brief look at MLS’s failures to move up from feeder league status, due to their continual aspirations towards being a top league.  Though now that it appears Tim Ream is going to Bolton it might need to be slightly edited.

The Drug is Football<< What Revs are Doing vs. League

A big problem I have with MLS not using the traditional fall-to-spring schedule is that they don’t really get to be involved in the Silly Season. Instead, I have dubbed the time between MLS Cup and training camps the Stupid Season.  It is filled with drafts, signings, drafts, releasing players, drafts, getting a few players during January, and did I mention more drafts.  While this is definitely from a New England perspective, it does show how many actual moves each team has made –or not made– during this Stupid Season.

Major League Soccer Talk<< The Post Where We Limit Ourselves to 3 Questions About the NY Offseason