Concacaf still lags behind

The World Cup belongs to UEFA and CONMEBOL...always. Not once has a team from Asia, Africa or North and Central America won the cup. Further, no African or Concacaf team has made it to a final. Only South Korea has made it to the semifinal in the modern era, and their participation at that stage may be due to favorable officiating. Oh, USA did make it to the semifinal, but in 1930. It's safe to say that 99.9% of Americans even knew that soccer existed. Everyone was watching baseball anyway.

So let's revise history a bit. If we look at Mexico, their best results were reaching the quarterfinals in 1970 and 1986. Are those familiar dates? They should be, they were the tournaments hosted by Mexico. And the United States? They have also stopped short at the quarterfinals...in 2002. This after first coming back to the world stage in 1990, with a round of 16 appearance when they hosted the World Cup in 1994.

Can we blame USA and Mexico's exits from the World Cup on battling stronger, legendary foes? Partly. For Mexico, starting with 1986, Germany defeated them on penalties (1-4). They were absent in 1990 due to disciplinary reasons. In 1994 it was eventual-semifinalists Bulgaria that ousted them in the round of 16. Was that a top competition? At the time, no. They lost on penalties, again, after Hristo Stoichkov scored a beautiful tying goal on Jorge Campos. After that it was Germany in 1998, USA in 2002, and Argentina in 2006 and 2010. You can make a case for top competition in 3 out of 4 of those tournaments. The match against the USA was a toss-up, especially since the two teams know each other well. However, in this match they were beaten 2-0 and not in penalties.

What about USA? If we discount the times they failed to make it out of group play (1990, 1998, 2006), they also faced top competition in 2 our of 3 of the corresponding games (Brazil in 1994 and Germany in 2002). Brazil won the cup in 1994 and Germany reached the final in 2002. Yes, that penalty against the USA shouldn't have counted on that fateful quarterfinal against the three-time world champs. And in the current World Cup? We can say that Ghana isn't top competition but they were in Africa and level in strength.

Let's look at South Africa a bit closer. In the words of the great Mauro Velasquez Villacis, neither Mexico or USA beat anybody. What about France? We can all agree that France was in shambles due to internal strife. Mexico couldn't defeat the host nation and fell to Uruguay, which set up a match against Argentina. USA also didn't beat anyone; Algeria isn't really considered a world power.

Mexicans and Americans may both make reference to non-World Cup tournaments such as the Confederations Cup or U-17 and U-20 tournaments. Mexico may have won the Confederations Cup in 1999 (they were hosts) and the USA may have reached the final in 2009, but let's face it, these do not compare to the World Cup. And when you throw in Mexico's U-17 championship in 2005 and USA may have reached the semifinals in 1999 I say this: youth tournaments almost never reflect the senior team. As an example, USA defeated Brazil in 2007 by the score of 2-1. The senior team has defeated them once in the last 20 years, and on home soil on a non-World Cup match.

There is still plenty of room for evolution of the Concacaf region. The Mexican Primera is a quality league and MLS is catching up to the world. Players from the region are also beginning to populate European leagues. If Ghana were to reach the semifinal in 2010, it will be a victory for the continent. It may not be long before USA or Mexico reach the semifinals and it may also take a hosting of the tournament by one of the two countries. If USA hosts in 2018 or 2022 things may go their way, especially since Mexico is essentially at home in this country. Until then, however, Concacaf will continue to lag behind.

FIFA referees and technology

Grow up, please. FIFA, as much as we love you and the tournaments you provide, it can be quite unbearable at times to watch our teams (or even our foes) lose out due to bad officiating. As ESPN commentators put it today, bad officiating can be quite costly for football business. A bad call on a disallowed goal at a major tournament may mean losses in broadcast and merchandising, public interest and less respect for the game. This last part I'd like to throw in since it's the more American viewpoint from passive soccer-watchers. "Soccer needs to change or people won't accept it here." I agree with the first part.

Aside from two non-calls that may have favored the US versus Slovenia and Algeria (no fouls or offsides in the disallowed goals by Edu and Dempsey respectively), there have been major faults in the system. Two major faults, both today, both with quarterfinal repercussions. First, in the England-Germany game, came a blatantly legitimate goal by Frank Lampard that bounced of the horizontal bar and a good yard behind the goal line before bouncing back out. We all saw it except for the officiating crew. England would have tied the score. There is goal-line technology now in other sports (and has also been tried in soccer). How can we not go forward with this at least?

The other event was the goal by Tevez that opened the score in the Argentina-Mexico match. Tevez was offside by several yards. If that wasn't offside then Edu scored from his own half, right?

Okay, so FIFA wants to maintain control and pace of the game. True, yes, but when 99.9% of the press, players, coaches, world ask for change, you have to give in. If replay and/or goal line technology aren't enough, then please please please put another referee behind the goals. At least they would be able to tell us if 1) Tevez was offside, 2) Lampard goal counts, 3) Henry/Maradona uses his hand to score.

So FIFA, hear us out. We want some change to have our sport back. Soccer belongs to the world, not to a board room playing God.

End of a dream: USA eliminated by Ghana

We watched it together. We cheered together. We laughed and cried together. This time there was no happy Hollywood ending, however. But the United States national team did show one thing: courage. They never let themselves down even after being scored on. They always knew there would be a way back. Sometimes, though, heart just isn't enough to win games.

It started with a miss-call by Bradley: Clark would slip back into the central midfield role alongside Michael Bradley. It had worked great in qualifying and in friendlies, but we can argue that Edu had worked better. Edu was a first-teamer with Glasgow Rangers, he had been robbed a goal versus Slovenia and had played a great game against Algeria. Why not keep him in the role? He's as imposing a central mid as Clark is. Questions for the future, no doubt.

Going down early in the game has been the USA's weak spot throughout this tournament and even in qualifiers. Boateng scored in the 5th minute after Ricardo Clark coughed up the ball in the midfield. The first half had few chances for the Americans and they seemed lost. Would there be second half heroics?

There were. The US pushed up the field and maintained possession. A foul on Dempsey in the area made way for Donovan's equalizer. But Bradley's men seemed content. A few half chances, maybe one Altidore should have done better on, and regular time ended. On to extra time. And there it came again. An early lapse in concentration by DeMerrit and Bocanegra and Gyan, Ghana's top scorer, scored a sublime goal. There would be no comeback. There was no gas. Bradley subbed Clark early in the first half (deservedly so) but this meant less choices going forward. The 120th minute came and went and even Howard's intrusion into the opposing goal was negated by the West African side.

Disappointment? Yes. Should the coach continue? That is to be determined, but just because he had a good run doesn't necessarily mean he will continue to. Players need new environments, new encouragement, new ideas and new goals. Bruce Arena was also a great coach but his ideas ran dry when 2006 came around. We don't want to see the same in 2014. We should rebuild this team and aim higher. Landon Donovan (28) still has another World Cup cycle in him. Zidane did it before. Charlie Davies will return and we have up-and-coming players like Bedoya, McInierney, Luis Gil, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzales, all waiting for their chance. US Soccer needs to seize this opportunity and make a great team even better.

The national team already made fans at home and abroad. Can we keep the energy going? We certainly hope so.

Player Ratings

• Howard-----------6
• Bornstein---------6
• DeMerrit---------5
• Bocanegra--------5
• Cherundolo-------5.5
• Dempsey---------6.5
• Clark-------------3
• Bradley----------5.5
• Donovan---------7
• Findley----------4
• Altidore----------5

Subs: Edu (6.5), Gomez (5), Feilhaber (6)

World Cup revolution: Italy and France crash out

There are critics out there that prefer Italy out of the tournament because of their overly defensive tactics. France was also downright sad to watch. Where was Ribery, Malouda, Henry, Toulalan? They were there in body but not in spirit. Perhaps the Raymond Dommenech situation or the recent underage prstitution scandal involving Benzema, Govou and Ribery overshadowed any semblance of a chance the Gauls may have had in South Africa. And Italy? Let's just say they were never young enough to get too far, not when a third of their players are over 30 and their star player (Cannavaro) is 36. Maybe they should have called Maldini?

Conmebol certainly has impressed. Barring a possible change in fortunes tomorrow with Chile, all South American representatives are already through. Concacaf also has its two major powers, USA and Mexico, through to the next round and in style. Mexico defeated 2006 finalist France and USA went unbeaten in group play and won their group thanks to goals scored. Let's not forget Asia. Their more storied sides, South Korea and Japan, also went through to the next round after overcoming opposition from mid-level European teams (Greece and Denmark, respectively) as well as African teams (Nigeria and Cameroon, respectively). Japan did it in style today in a dominating 3-1 decision over Denmark. They managed to score two goals from direct free kicks (what's wrong with Jabulani?). Oh, don't forget Australia (4 points, lost passage to next round to Ghana by goal differential) and New Zealand (unbeaten, three ties).

So what else is happening in this World Cup? One special thing location. Aside from Africa's failure, the different conferences have enjoyed the neutral location. Indeed, Americans are reported to have bought more tickets than any other country except for South Africa. They may not all be supporting team USA, but the various groups living in this country probably took up a large portion of the tickets.

One other aspect corroborating in this revolution is this: teams like Italy, England, and even Germany have leagues in which the majority of players in the dominant teams are not domestic. Inter, for example had only one Italian-born player on the pitch at the Champions League semifinal. Add to that the fact that the back line is made up of mostly Juventus players. Juve didn't have the best of seasons either. Oh, and England... why is Heskey starting? He hardly saw time on the field this past season. Germany's squad also relies heavily on Bayern Munich. You could argue that these players are tired from a very long season that included the Champions League final.

We can rest assured that there may yet be one or two or three more surprising scores in this tournament.. but how's this: Slovakia 3 - Italy 2, Switzerland 1 - Spain 0, Mexico 2 - France 0, USA 1 - England 1, New Zealand 1 - Italy 1... we can go on. And yes, that's why we love soccer.

Justice triumphs: USA defeats Algeria and advances to round of 16

What a game. What a goal. What a feeling. Need we say more? Yes, the US defeated Algeria today and are now poised for a knock-out stage match against the sole African representative left in the tournament--Ghana. Yes, Landon Donovan lit it up once more and made millions of voices scream in unison "gooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaal!" You were probably doing the same. I admit I was also.

The match started with miscommunication between DeMerrit and Bocanegra that nearly marked a goal for Algeria. Alas, the post saved Howard and the national team. As the first half wore on, Bradley's men pushed farther and farther into Algerian territory. Missed opportunities abounded: Gomez, Dempsey, Altidore. There was even a non-existent offsides call on Dempsey that the replay showed to be onside. Robbed again, but this time justice would prevail.

This match had some gutsy calls by Bradley, as he inserted Bornstein for Onyewu and Gomez for the suspended Findley. Bocanegra shifted back into his prefered central position and Bornstein slid into left back. This was a surprising call given Bornstein's inconsistencies and downright liability in that spot sometimes. He has moments of brilliance (stoppage time score versus Costa Rica) but also costly mistakes (El Salvador's first strike in Sandy last year). Granted, Onyewu has shown some lack of awareness in the first two games and could be consider partly-culpable for the Slovenian and English scores. Gomez's inclusion was a bit more perplexing since he is usually more of a supersub. At this point, though, it doesn't matter because the boys got the job done.

The winning goal came in typical American fashion: we had all resigned ourselves to the fact that USA would be knocked out of the tournament even though we hadn't lost. Howard thought different. In the 92nd minute of play (4 minutes added time) he threw the ball quarterback-like to a sprinting Donovan. It was 4 against 2 sprinting towards the Algerian 'keeper. Donovan played the ball right to Altidore, who centered the ball for Dempsey. Dempsey's strike was saved by the Algerian but the rebound was left floating near the penalty spot. Donovan calmly struck it home with placement and control. The US was now up 1-0 and the game would end shortly after.

The simultaneous match between England and Slovenia made for extra nail-biting by USA supporters. A Jermaine Defoe strike during the first half meant England had 5 points and were through to the next round. The USA could not settle for a draw. The score on that game would remain 1-0, and this also meant team USA would win the group thanks to greater amount of goals scored. Oh, they are also undefeated.

Team USA will face Ghana in the round of 16. Not at all an easy match. Remember that this side beat "dark horse contenders" Serbia and nearly tied the heavily-favored Germans. Also, in the only previous meeting between USA and Ghana, the Gold Coast side won the last match of group play in 2006. Ghana went on to the knock-out stage. USA went home. This is a difficult game to decipher. USA has not played a true African team (Sub-Saharan) for some time now. I believe the last one was against South Africa in 2007. Ghana will also have the full support of the continent, city and, likely, the stadium. They are even on paper, however. I can see this going into extra time. After that, we leave the game to our dreams.

We believe.

Player ratings:

• Howard--------7
• Bornstein------6
• DeMerrit------8
• Bocanegra-----6.5
• Cherundolo----6.6
• Dempsey------8
• Donovan------9
• Bradley-------8
• Edu-----------6
• Gomez--------5.5
• Altidore------7.5

Subs: Feilhaber (6), Buddle (5.5), Beasley (N/A)

Two to Tango: Argentina and Brazil rule South Africa

Okay, make that three to Tango if we count Holland. Unless you have decided to watch baseball or the NBA or the Gulf spill, you probably already know that there have been upsets galore in South Africa 2010. Starting from the top: France ties 0-0 Uruguay and falls 0-2 to Mexico, England ties 1-1 versus USA and 0-0 versus Algeria, Italy ties 1-1 versus Paraguay and New Zealand, Germany loses 0-1 to Serbia, Spain loses 0-1 to Switzerland. Discounting non-traditional outliers (Mexico, Paraguay, Slovenia, etc), we are left with only Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands. If we go, strictly speaking, with history, then Holland is taken out of the equation and we are left again with just Argentina and Brazil.

Perhaps this "disarray" is due to a non-traditional location for the event: Africa. Perhaps the game is much more competitive now and teams from powerhouse leagues like England and Spain don't really match up with international success. Maybe the players are too tired from so many competitions. Wait, nearly all players tend to see each other once or twice if they play in such prestigious leagues (Drogba, Rooney, Dempsey, Vela, etc.). Clearly, this isn't the way to explain it since it would be a worldwide phenomenon of lowered quality in the game. No one wants to slump at the World Cup, right?

Then there is the African nations. With so much power and a "home field advantage," shouldn't they be tearing through teams like Australia, Japan and Slovenia? What's going on with Eto'o, Drogba, Gyan? Nothing. It's just that the teams as a whole just aren't quite there yet. More discipline is needed, perhaps, but haven't we been saying this all along? Aren't we always looking for a breakthrough African team that reaches the semifinal or, why not, the final? Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002) left us wanting more. Maybe South Africa can still pull off of a miracle entry to the round of 16 (still possible) and evade the title of first host nation to be eliminated in group play.

So we come back to a natural conclusion, one that is supported by historical evidence. It's as simple as this: a team that is meant to win it all does not lose a game. Never in World Cup history has a winner lost a game during the competition. Ties, yes (Brazil-Sweden in 1994, Italy-USA in 2006, etc.). With that in mind we can also argue for Italy to have a shot still. But, we are left with two teams that have thoroughly defeated their opposition: Brazil and Argentina. Historically, it takes Argentina or France to knock out the Brazilians (this goes back to 1986 for perspective). Argentina, on the other hand, can go out any number of ways: Germany, Romania, England, Netherlands.

This has to be the most competitive World Cup to date. Most teams (excluding Cameroon and perhaps one or two others after tomorrow) still have a chance to advance. Most "contender" teams could be sent packing. This could also be a World Cup of firsts: the host nation eliminated in group phase is a first. Maybe wounded nations such as Spain and Germany can break the curse and lift the trophy. If that is the case, then they have mountains of history to climb as well as two formidable gatekeepers: Argentina and Brazil.

Robbed: US ties Slovenia

It started like any other US match: USA starts slow, timid and uncreative. Opposing squad scores an early goal by way of Birsa. It wasn't doom and gloom yet and Donovan, Torres, Findley and Altidore attacked. That's when it hit home... a second Slovenian goal courtesy of Ljubijankic. Why? Torres wasn't tracking back to the defensive mid position required when given the chance in substitute of Ricardo Clark. His understanding with Bradley was missing and didn't echo what was gained from the Turkey friendly in Philadelphia. Onyewu also showed signs that he may not be fully fit yet.

But Bradley fought back as he always does. He switched Edu for Torres (I wish Edu had been there from the start versus England also) and inserted Feilhaber for Findley. Yes, we lost a pure forward. Not so fast... Dempsey can slide into that position (same as against Egypt last summer). There, he can provide a creative spark and a moment of brilliance or two. The response was immediate: Donovan slipped past a sliding defender for a run on the right wing and delivered a shocker of a goal from an impossible angle that the goalkeeper shied away from as if spooked by a mouse.

Gritty American soccer followed Donovan's goal. And by gritty, we also mean attacking football. Altidore sparked into life and used his size to win balls and draw fouls. A masterful center from Donovan almost from midfield was headed down cleverly by Altidore and met a one-time strike from Michael Bradley. The score was tied.

America was back and it might just be a win for the Stars and Stripes. Donovan took a perfect free kick that lobbed into the 6 yard box, where Maurice Edu buried it in the back of the net. But the referee disagreed. A phantom call. Was it offsides? Who? Only Edu touched the ball and he was several yards behind the last defender. A foul? Hustle and tussle from both teams as with any free kick into the area... and Edu barely made contact with his marking man. A robbery indeed. America lost two points today and it wasn't because Slovenia was better. It was because of amateur refereeing. When will FIFA allow for goal line refs at least?

It's sad to admit it, but the US always looks better when coming from behind. Just remember important matches like the 2007 Gold Cup final (down 0-1 to Mexico, final score 2-1), World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador (twice and one time from being 0-2 down), Honduras (at home and away from 0-1) and Costa Rica (0-2). Oh, a little game against England last Saturday. Why can't we have more of the 2-0 versus Spain (Confederations Cup) or 3-1 versus Australia (friendly). It is a continuous disappointment, followed by exhilaration and then a continuous heart attack as we pray the match can end in a favorable draw or an improbable win.

Today we watched most of the game but settled for a half hour of radio coverage. We still screamed in joy as our team scored. Other American fans were celebrating in pubs from Chicago to Seattle and living rooms from Cleveland to Phoenix. And better yet, the majority of fans at the stadium were cheering for the USA. That's the real win today. Welcome, soccer. America is ready for you.

Wednesday's test will be stiff. Algeria tied a top-ranked English team and is still alive for a spot in the round of 16. The USA needs to win, plain and simple. Hopefully Bradley will have learned his lesson and we will take over the field to book a spot in the next round. The team deserves it. The country deserves it.



Player ratings:

• Howard-----------6
• Bocanegra--------6.5
• DeMerrit---------5
• Onyewu----------4.5
• Cherundolo-------7
• Dempsey---------5.5
• Bradley-----------7
• Torres------------4
• Donovan----------7.5
• Altidore-----------6
• Findley-----------3.5

Subs: Feilhaber (6), Edu (6.5), Gomez (N/A)