Letters from NYC

USA... USA... USA... ALL THE WAY!

Dear Teresa,

I figured with this post I'll kill 4 birds with one stone: to let you & everyone know that the U.S. plays the Czech Republic today at 11:55am (which is being broadcast on ABC), to answer the remainder of your questions, to let you (and anyone else who might stop in) know how my technical setup is working for me, AND to opine on what the US’ chances are in their up-coming matches.

To answer your question about my viewing: yes, I’m a very lucky girl because I’ve been able to alternate between viewing live feed online (with some problems) and watching them on tv. Other’s have not been so lucky as the demand on the the feed providers have been overwhelming: a million and a half on US servers alone.

Imagine that many people logging in simultaneously as a match begins in almost every country around the world. That's is what happened with the England vs Paraguay game. There were reports that servers were crashing everywhere across the globe. It seems the planners and broadcasters forgot that England is an empire, with subjects worldwide. I watched that game on TV and got to see Beckham play his legs off and go on to win 1-0. This surprised a lot of people as they expected the Brits to do much better. It didn’t surprise me though because I knew the respective clubs had not released key players (including Beckham) in time to allow for enough practice sessions. I was able to see at times the lack of cohesion, hesitating briefly before a passing to make sure a mid-fielder or defender was in position. In essence, they were playing an individuals rather than as a team.

The most exciting game, which I was forced to give up watching on my pc and went in search of my tv (the live feed kept dropping), was Sweden and Trinidad. That was the 8th game on the schedule and the most exiting so far. 16th ranked Sweden thought that playing the 47th ranked Trinidad would be a piece of cake. After all, Sweden has had 6 World Cup appearances and this is Trinidad’s first. Going into the game Sweden had a lot of advantages and were well prepared. So what happened? How could they not capitalize and score against a team that was 1 man down (from a penalty ejection) the entire 2nd half? A hefty combination of 2 things: over confidence and underestimation. In their minds Sweden had already handed themselves an easy win and even bragged about it. They had underestimated the hunger, drive, tenacity and experience of many of the players on the Trinidad team (which have trained in the US and elsewhere. A few of the Trinidadian players have also played in leagues in Europe and Africa.

Then there was Shaka Hislop, the goal keeper, the Howard University graduate who trained extensively during his college years in NJ. And a player that has always been amazing to watch. He really stunned the Swedish team by anticipating and blocking every shot with unbelievable effectiveness. In fact, for every goal shot Trinidad attempted, Sweden made 3 times the number of attempts. So why couldn’t they get the ball in between the goal posts? Answer: Hislop. He and he alone kept Sweden from advancing and in so doing, kept the hopes and dreams of a million and a half Trinidadians from dying a premature death. It was simply an unbelievably hard fought game. I believe it will go down as one of the most memorable of this Cup.

As for the U.S., if truth be told, when I saw the World Cup rankings, I was shocked. FIFA had The Netherlands with a ranking #3 and the U.S. as #5 in the world. Yes, I know the U.S. has beaten major teams in high profile matches (like Mexico, who won yesterday against Iran 3-1 – Yeay!). But they’ve also lost to teams so unbelievably in-experienced and of lesser skill that it’s too embarrassing to even mention here (winning 1-0 over 70th Ranked Latvia does NOT inspire confidence).

On the other hand, having watched the US Soccer Federation support and nuture women's and men's soccer for the past 20 years coming from nowhere to achieve the rankings they have today (USA Women are ranked #2) is amazing. This is our 5th straight World Cup qualification and our toughest games yet.

As for the players, all eyes are on the veterans: Landon Donovan, Brian McBride (both of which scored 2 goals in the last world Cup), Eddie Pope, Ed Johnson, John O'Brien and Claudio Reyna, the rebel from NJ, who has been chomping at the bit to get out more and garnered a few snippets of illicit press coverage while partying in Germany. Having watched (Brooklyn-born) Bruce Arena coach the US Men's soccer team to 99 wins out of 127 international matches inspires much confidence and fills me with great hope. Arena, has kept all the player’s focused by keeping them secluded and out of the press’ sight. But overall, the team has finally been able to come together in the last week and they do seem like a cohesive group. This was evident during the team's press conference where players were even finishing each other's sentences. Bruce is a phenomenal coach and I know (fingers and toes crossed) that he's prepared them well for this game. It's going to be a heart breaker for me as I've got to attend a F#$%&*@# meeting at work which I've been trying to get out of. On top of all that our division head will be working from our offices. AHHHHHHHHH! I should have taken the day off like some of my work colleagues.

BTW, some of the players’ impressions, etc. are being blogged by the staff on the team’s web log. Here's a link to the US Men's Soccer Team's stats and history.

The US matches are:

06/12/2006
11:55 AM/ET U.S. Men vs. Czech Republic Live on ESPN2 and Univision

06/17/2006
2:30 PM/ET U.S. Men vs. Italy Live on ABC and Univision

06/22/2006
9:55 AM/ET U.S. Men vs. Ghana Live on ESPN and Univision

How they do in the first 2 matches will determine their fate: they either win or tie to get the 4 points to move on or they go home. I'm hoping they reach the semi's because otherwise it'll be the first time out of their last 4 World Cup that they don't make it. A very sad thought indeed!

Well, it's almost 2:00am so I best sign off now. I do hope you watch the game, who else will I have to compare notes with if you don't (are you feeling the pressure?).

Hug,
m/

P. S. BTW, did you see Markos of Daily Kos being interviewed on Meet the Press re: his convention in Las Vegas and the upcoming elections in 2008?

Posted by Michele at June 12, 2006 12:47 AM